Living in a free country, we sometimes seem to take advantage of laws. Yes, the United States is a free country, but should we limit our rights for the concern of others? Although smokers have the God-given right to do what they want, where they want, we need to look at delicate matters, such as smoking in public, impartially. Taking in consideration the majority of the opinion, peoples' allergies, and just plain health hazards, the right of smoking in public should definitly be debated.

As a democratic society, the people have to come up with a majority vote on just about everything, and when polled on people smoking in public, 63% of the people felt it was unnecessary would win the right to have public smoking banned. Public opinion is very outspoken these days and should be taken serioulsy. If this many people are against it, there is obviously something wrong. The smell also tends to bother people; the feel of it being disgusting not only bothers them, but many people suffer health problems due to, what is called, second-hand smoke.

Since allergies are something a lot of people can do nothing about, what causes them is what should be changed or altered. As I mentioned before, second-hand smoke can not only cause minor allergies, but can cause an allergic reaction called Anaphylaxis, or better known as Anaphylactic shock, which causes swelling of the neck and thyroid glands blocking your respiratory tract. Anaphylactic shock can be caused by food, insect stings, as well as smoke, and can result in death. Taking necessary precautions to keep Anaphylactic shock from happening involves staying away from specific foods, certain insects, and so on. But when it comes to smoking provoking this reaction, sometimes can't be stopped. For example, if a child was prone to anaphylaxis by smoke and was taken to his favorite restaurant for his birthday, usually the architects of the building don't go to a great deal of trouble to seperate the smoking section from the non-smoking section, which can cause many problems for this little child. Since this is life-threatening, the parents might even go as far as leaving for somewhere else to prevent this from happening. So the smokers may say they have the right to smoke where they want, but it shouldn't result in someone else's right being taken away. This is only one of the health hazards smokers can cause, unaware of just what kind of danger other people are in.

Health is very important in everyone's life, and it is desired to be at its best at all times. Everyone knows the danger first-hand smoke can cause the smoker, but the dangers of second-hand smoke are often overlooked. When cancer is mentioned, it can give anyone a scare (even if it were a person who has smoked for years, if they are diagnosed with lung cancer it will most likely come as quite a shock.) What people don't know is second-hand smoke has, in many cases, caused lung cancer. Immediate family smoking in a home containing children will definitely put the children at risk. So the chance of putting someone else at risk due to a right that was overlooked of it's danger should not happen at all. This includes public smoking.

With health hazards, allergy possibilites, and a negative opinion about smoking in public, the right of smoking in public should be taken away all together. This way the smoker shouldn't feel they have been violated of their rights because they will be helping the health of others. Also, people will stay healthier and happier with their community.

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