Dear Smokers,
I would like to begin this letter by stating that I support your right to smoke. I don't smoke and I never have but this is a free country and I believe you should have the right to smoke if you so choose. However I believe your right to indulge should not infringe on the rights of others. Just as someone who drinks has the right to get drunk but will be prosecuted for getting behind the wheel and endangering the lives of others, your right to smoke and damage your own body ends when you smoke in areas that are designated as smoke free.
I can understand how it might be easy for you to rationalize smoking as you walk in a theme park. You might think that you are only causing a momentary discomfort to those people unfortunate enough to walk behind you. Perhaps you believe that all people are like me and will only get a little unpleasant sting in their eyes and perhaps wrinkle their noses at the smell. Perhaps you don't think about others at all. However, your smoking does more damage than you know to those with asthma and other breathing problems.
After walking behind several smokers at Sea World in Orlando my 8 year old son spent the rest of the day and night struggling to breathe. I was up twice with the rescue inhaler trying to give him some relief. He had not needed the inhaler in the last 6 months, however exposure to smoke triggered a dangerous asthma attack. My 75 year old father is recovering from bronchitis and he spent the night coughing from the irritation that the cigarette smoke created in his lungs.
Like all mothers, I wish I could protect my children from all of the dangers of the world. It is humbling to realize that I cannot even protect them from you, the thoughtless smoker.
I write this to ask you to think before you light up in a public place. Picture me sitting on the edge of a fold out couch in Orlando listening to my child gasping next to me and hearing my father coughing and coughing in the next room. Picture me and stop.
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Comments: 33
Smoking is allowed at Disney but there are only a couple spots that it is ok to smoke at and they are in areas that it is not neccesary to go thru to get to where you need to go.
I am not argueing that everyone has the right to smoke, just that when there is something that can unwanted cause harm to others then it should not be done around others
TITLE 21-FOOD AND DRUGS
DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
(b) Placement on schedules; findings required Except where control is required by United States obligations under an international treaty, convention, or protocol, in effect on October 27, 1970, and except in the case of an immediate precursor, a drug or other substance may not be placed in any schedule unless the findings required for such schedule are made with respect to such drug or other substance. The findings required for each of the schedules are as follows:
(1) Schedule I. -
(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.
(2) Schedule II. -
(A) The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States or a currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.
(3) Schedule III. -
(A) The drug or other substance has a potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in schedules I and II.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychologicaldependence.
(4) Schedule IV. -
(A) The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule III.
(5) Schedule V. -
(A) The drug or other substance has a low potential for abuse relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV.
(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to limited physical dependence or psychological dependence relative to the drugs or other substances in schedule IV.
~@~
Why doesn't Tobacco fall under any of these scheduals, let alone Schedual ONE of which it meets and exceeds the findings required ?
I live in a state where smoking is VERY acceptable, but am from an area where smokers were very rare. Some of the suburban towns around the city have banned smoking w/in 20 feet of all public places and the suburb we live in has gone mostly "voluntarily smoke-free". We have a boat & water ski & wakeboard a lot in the summer & we make any guests paddle out in an inner tube to smoke & then don't allow them to litter the lake. ;) We have 3 children who deal w/ childhood asthma (so luckily my oldest has almost outgrown it). Our youngest has been in the hospital multiple times with asthma attacks & it's just not worth the risk to us.