Smokers rights violated by Boise State! Wheezers everywhere are offended

Some people are up in arms about Boise State's new policy of no-smoking on campus, that also includes student's own cars that are on campus parking lots.

With much fanfare, Boise State University last week implemented a campus-wide no-smoking policy. I’m not going to deny the ability of the government to regulate or even ban smoking on campus. The trouble is the policy extends beyond the campus and its buildings and straight into privately-owned automobiles. “Smoking on all Boise State property, including in cars parked on the property, is prohibited,” school officials explain in a frequently-asked-questions paper attached to the policy.

And violators? “Boise State University reserves the right to initiate disciplinary procedures against any individual found to be in continuous violation of this policy,” students are warned. I’m not sure what that means, but it sounds like something you wouldn’t want your parents to know about. Boise State takes a huge leap, putting the government in control of the interior of private vehicles, all in the interest of promoting student health and academic performance.

I personally have no problem with the smoking ban since I've literally been sickened walking to class before while going by a pack of lung-killers. However extending their jurisdiction to somebody's car is going to piss off some freedom lovers here in Amuri-ka.

Problem is, cigarettes and smoking are both a substance and a purposeful act. If the university has deemed that unhealthy for the public and it's students, they have every right as an institution to do so. It's not like you can have sex in your car while parked in a university lot and not get in trouble for it. Chances are you'll probably be ticketed for lewd acts in public or at least asked to leave. Like cigarettes, sex is not illegal however, institutions find that people doing it in the front seat for the world to see would be less than right for our society.

Now Boise State has come across with the ruling that they don't think students sitting on their college campus smoking is a good thing for society and for student health in general. Good for them, I support it. It's pretty cut and dry to me. If you want to continue to do this, go home and smoke.

I hear smokers complain all the time about their rights being violated and how it's harder to smoke in public areas. Duh. Not only is second-hand smoke dangerous (so I wouldn't want to walk through a parking lot and get assaulted by smoke - trust me, not too many people would smoke with the windows rolled up), but down the line these smokes drive up costs in our health care system when their body starts to break down. So please, make smoking a felony for all I care - it's damaging to society and it's affecting me even if I don't light up.

Smoke a pack, because this economy is going to hell

Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old fart, or something, but I have noticed that there are more and more cigarettes being smoked. I don't know whether its the recession or the fact that I live in Spokane but I've noticed on several occasions while siting at a stop light in the city (by the way, Spokane has the slowest stop lights in the country. Fact), that I'm between two cars where the drivers are puffing up.

Now I have hard proof that the recession is causing people to smoke more.

With a survey showing a quarter of smokers worried about the recession are smoking more, and another 13 per cent are delaying quitting for the same reason, experts say the new report reflects an urgent need to debunk the "mythic relaxation response" of cigarettes.

The tobacco companies must be loving this. I wonder how many smokers we'll see wheezing up Doomsday Hill at Bloomsday next weekend. My guess is not very many.

Smoking ban in Spokane parks?

It's pretty universal that smoking is bad for your health and that we should all quit doing it, and that the world would be flowery and perfect if that happened. However, that's not going to happen as people will still always need their vices for stress release (mine is eating, that's no healthy either).

While I like the bans in bars and restaurants because smokes just simply envelopes you indoors, and go to a bar in Idaho to discover just how bad things really are when people are allowed to smoke indoors, I think that a ban in Spokane parks is just a little too much.

Spokane -- The Spokane City Council delayed a decision Thursday that would ban public smoking in parks.

The proposed ban was back on the agenda because of some confusion over the policy. This ban included golf courses. But at the last meeting, that issue was penciled in to be reviewed in the future.

One park board member felt it needed to be officially brought to the table. But all the other members understood the proposed ban was a final vote and included all the public golf courses.

Here's an idea for those that don't want themselves or their kids to get exposed to smoking. DONT WALK NEAR SMOKERS. You can see them a mile away and I'm going to take a guess and say that somebody smoking 50 yards from you is not going to scar your life.

Now that's my uneducated medical opinion, so take it for what it's worth. You know, that common sense sort of stuff.

Indoors ban is a good thing. This is a bad thing. This chases smokers further away and banning them from outdoor environments seems a little too restrictive considering it honestly will have no affect on the health of people. It's more of a annoyance than anything.

But Brandon, I don't want to smell smoke when I walk in the parks. What about my kid's health? Do you smell smoke now? Seriously? Is it hovering above Spokane parks right now? Do you see smoke smog? No you don't. That argument is stupid, petty and dumb.

And by the way, you probably have to walk through some streets to get to Riverfront Park. In those streets are cars. Cars put out exhaust. You're probably going to get more damage from that exhaust than you are from the lonely smoker... and I've honestly yet to pass a smoker in Riverfront Park, they're too busy smoking it up outside of The Blvd...

This sort of stupidity is going to drive me to smoke.