Blowing smoke up your ass.

My alma mater, Widener University recently banned smoking on campus. Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer came out in support with these words, among others:

Kudos to Widener University for taking steps to ban smoking on its campuses, both indoors and out. Other area colleges and universities should follow Widener's lead. For that matter, so should other institutions, including all hospitals and government facilities. The move would help promote public health and reduce health-care costs.
Inhaling secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in the United States each year. Secondhand smoke is also thought to increase the risk of breast cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma. Most researchers say there is no safe level of secondhand smoke.

Kudos indeed, but why are we so worked up over secondhand smoke when the real culprit is firsthand smoke? Government has taken steps to eliminate the dangers of secondhand smoke by isolating smokers from the general public. Isn't it about time to do away with the cause of secondhand smoke - namely cigarettes?

We are told that cigarettes are the cause of disease, a bad influence on young people and generally a scourge on society to the point that smokers are socially excluded and pushed outdoors. Sometimes being outdoors isn't enough, and they are forced off of segregated property to find a place that allows smoking. It is a strange behavior from a society that gleefully collects taxes from a product that is sold legally.

A move that would truly "promote public health and reduce health-care costs" would be a move to stop producing, marketing and selling cigarettes altogether.

Then we could all get on with our lives.