Costs Of Smoking (I)

In 2007, the French government passed a ban on smoking in government buildings. Now the ban has been expanded to include cafes and bars.

Opponents exclaim that the ban is against the very watch cry of the French revolution: liberté, equalité, and fraternité. They cry: What gives Big Brother the right to constrain my liberté to smoke during fraternité in my local bistro? Do non-smokers have more equalité than smokers?

In a country like France that has socialized medicine, everyone has an equal right to health care services. Those who choose to smoke choose to have more emphysema, heart disease and cancer. Thus, they choose to use more health care resources than non-smokers. This is economic inequality.

To those who oppose the smoking ban, I ask the following: Why does the smoker have a right to spend the non-smoker’s health care euros (or dollars) without permission?

Does the smoker’s liberté trump everyone’s equalité?

System MD

See: www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/Europe/6032125.stm

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