Progress and Conflict Down Under

I recently ran across an article in Australia's The Age with a very provocative title: "Will you even be allowed to smoke in your own home?" Clearly, I had to read it. Although the focus was on government intervention with the tobacco industry, I was most interested in the information about apartment complexes banning smoking in their buildings. Apparently, they're modeling their policies after those of some California developments. So, why is this interesting to me?

Though I believe that various apartment complexes are doing the right thing by banning smoking, I still believe that people have the right to smoke in their own homes, as long as children don't live there. As I've said before, I only approve of smoking in private spaces. Apartments, as homes, are quasi-private property for tenants. So, I have an internal conflict with this. Hypothetically, if all apartment complexes were to ban smoking, smokers would be forced to live in houses--which are usually more costly. Is this just? Not entirely. Thankfully, basic economics tells me that as long as a small portion of the working class smokes, there will be apartments available for them, but they'll be in low supply and thus very expensive. I guess that will be a reality that smokers will have to live with, as if it were another tax on cigarettes. But hey, it surely wouldn't hurt cessation efforts, especially among social smokers.

I envision the establishment of "smoking-approved" apartment complexes, where smokers can live and smoke happily amongst themselves, while the rest of a city's apartments are smoke-free by default. The same goes for hotels. Hopefully, instead of hotels sporting 'no smoking' signs, hotels will be assumed to be smoke-free, unless otherwise noted. That said, I'd hope that developers of smoking-approved apartments and hotels consider the proximity of fire stations...

Another interesting bit from the article: In Victoria, the smallest, yet second-most populous state in the country, people are prohibited from smoking in restaurants, bars, public schools, cars carrying children, covered train stops, casinos, and most other public buildings. This includes Melbourne, population 4 million--in other words, the Los Angeles of Australia.

"...when you look at the data you see it [smoking] is by far the biggest avoidable cause of cancer death, so we simply can't afford to neglect it.'' --David Hill, Director of Cancer Council Victoria

In short, Australia really seems to be accelerating smoke-free progress on several fronts. I'm sharing all of this to make the point that smoke-free movements are not solely American phenomena, and they aren't misguided products of an extremely health-conscious culture. Rather, smoke-free policies are products of common sense.