Why is it that some people think that it is their God given right to smoke wherever they please?

Man do I ever HATE ignorant smokers!

Don't get me wrong, not all smokers are ignorant. If you are in your home or outside and you wish to smoke, I really have no problem with that.

When our province banned smoking in public buildings, there was an uproar! Many smokers complained that it was their right to smoke and if people didn't like it, they did not have to go to any restaurants, bars or other public places where the smokers had to get their nic fix. This really pissed me off.

Let's look at the situation objectively...

If a smoker goes into a public building and does not smoke, who does it affect? Clearly, only one person is affected. And how are they affected? They don't get their "fix".

On the other hand, who is affected if the smoker blazes up in a public building? Everyone around the smoker. Even if you wanted to argue that second hand smoke has not been proven to cause anything (which is a stupid argument), everyone around the smoker is made to feel uncomfortable. Shouldn't that be a good enough reason not to smoke in public buildings?

Hell, I am sure that lots of healthy people love to masturbate. Even if it wasn't illegal to run around masturbating in public buildings, I sure that it wouldn't happen (at least it wouldn't happen often) because everyone around the masturbator would be uncomfortable. Maybe masturbators are just more thoughtful and respectful of other people's feeling than some smokers.

The reason I bring up this topic today is because I went to a Tragically Hip concert the other day and there was so much smoke in the arena, I could barely breathe. Most of the smoke was actually pot, but it is still smoke. As stated above, I have no problem with people doing this in their own home or outside, just not inside public buildings! The funny thing is, there were tons of security guards and cops at the event and they didn't even try to curb this illegal activity. I guarantee that if they started kicking out the people who were smoking (cigarettes or dope), you'd see others butt out for fear of missing the concert. It is pretty bad when I can never take my children to a concert because they would be stoned by the end of it!

The worst part is, they do it because they can. They know that no-one is going to do anything about it, so f#$k everyone who doesn’t like it!

I think the next time I am in a public building, and I see someone blazing up, I'll just whip it out, give it a good tug and tell them that I don't mind if they smoke as long as they don't mind if I masturbate!

Wait a minute... Maybe that isn't the best idea... What if they DON'T mind!?! This is Fredericton after all!