Secondary School Level

The smell of smoke makes me feel claustrophobic. My weak lungs have to fight to breathe. I have to deal with it outside the theatre, the mall, on the railway platform, in the restroom and almost every public place I visit. I am in support of the banning of smoking in public places.

Second hand smoke is very harmful to non-smokers. Every time I inhale second hand smoke it makes me angry that I am being subjected to it. Smokers believe that it is a free country and they should have the right to smoke wherever they please. A right that impinges on the comfort of your fellow citizens needs to be reviewed. No one is refuting the smokers right to smoke, it's just that, it’s about time that smokers realized that non-smokers have rights too. Every one has a right to a clean and safe environment.

Youngsters watch older folk smoke in public places and think it’s cool to smoke. They try to emulate them. They think that smoking will make them look mature. Smokers must remember that they are disregarding their social responsibility to these youngsters when they smoke publicly. If they must smoke, then they should do so in private and not in a place where it might affect those who choose not to.