In its heyday, smoking has invaded almost all segments of society. For one, men were classified as sissy when they are not seen sporting a cigar or blowing smoke with a cigarette. The air lanes, the TV were likewise bombarded with ad that promotes the vice. Can you remember the Marlboro Man on the boob tube and giant billboards?
Or try looking at reruns of old western spaghetti movies, the lead actor almost always smoke. In fact when you enter a sheriffs office it is shrouded in smoke that not even the
American Flag is visible. That was the American culture we wanted to be freed of, particularly when scientific evidence points to it as a health hazard. But even with the nagging evidence, not everybody is convinced, many are still into cigarette addiction and tobacco companies are still reaping the profits.
Then new legislation were put into effect, like all cigarette packs were labeled as a health risk, higher taxes were levied against it, smoking ads on TV were limited to be aired only after 8pm, yet these seems to be not effective because year after year, the number of young smokers continue to rise.
Now comes New York City's smoking prohibition on bars and restaurant's, courtesy of Mayor Bloomberg's desire to make the city smoke free. And for five years, it indeed instituted reforms and the City is responding well as the air is almost environmentally clear.
Further, to protect residents from second-hand smoke, a new move is emerging to include homes. That is, leases will not be given to tenants that smoke, or new homes will not be awarded to applicants if they smoke.
by:
The Flagman
