Guest editorial by Sam Petri

I own a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer. I buy locally grown organic produce when possible. Like the majority of Teton County residents I stay active by exercising in the outdoors via hiking, skiing, cycling, boating, fishing, etc.

I love the fresh air, feeling pure, and the exhilaration of free choice that these activities provide. I also love to smoke cigarettes. And, as you can imagine, the recently proposed smoking ban in Teton County has me more than a little miffed.

The notion of a smoking ban comes from people who believe they should not be subjected to secondhand smoke in public. Secondhand smoke rhetoric is the antismoking campaign’s most powerful weapon.

The rarely challenged science that supports the dangers of secondhand smoke took the smoking issue from that of individual choice to an action that is dangerous to society as a whole.

With this type of antismoking rhetoric, people who could not care less about the health issues surrounding a smoker are now jumping on the bandwagon under the argument these individuals are causing cancer in nonsmokers with every exhale.

The secondhand smok rhetoric dished out by government agencies and pharmaceutical companies exaggerates the dangers of secondhand smoke, stigmatizes smokers as murderers, and incites intolerance, making the act socially unacceptable.

Right now the majority of Teton County businesses are smoke free by choice. Only four public establishments still allow smoking inside: The Virginian Saloon, The Log Cabin Saloon, Horse Creek Station and the Amangani Hotel.

It is obvious that Teton County’s public is already sold on antismoking propaganda, as the majority of hospitality establishments now cater to the antismoking trend.

If only four businesses remain smoke friendly, I see no need for a recently proposed smoking ban. With a statewide ban looming on the horizon, a countywide smoking ban is seen as a way to ease into the inevitable.

 I find this a cowardly way to go with the flow and allow the state to dictate how free business operates. Whether local businesses care either way is yet to be vocalized.

Perhaps the government looks to make money by both selling me the cigarettes, and then fining me for smoking them, at a proposed $750 a pop, here in Teton County.

Perhaps one day the rhetoric will go from “ban” to “nationwide prohibition,” then the pharmaceutical companies can make money off me when smokers are forced to quit and take nicotine in their form, via the patch or gum.

I know that cigarettes are an unhealthy habit, but they are legal, just like cars and gas grills. Lot’s of nasty stuff floats around in the air; I think with a little tolerance, respect for free choice, and the latest in restaurant ventilation technology, we can all stop whining and live with each other.

RadAjaxNamespace.AddPanel( { ClientID : 'ArticleDetail1_AjaxLoadingPanel1', IsSticky : false, InitialDelayTime: 0, MinDisplayTime: 0, Transparency: 0 } );