Ethical Decision on Smoking Policy Essay

A town council serves as a settlement court in the areas that cover their jurisdiction. I It is their job to hear the complaints and problems of their constituents and try to develop ethical decisions that will resolve the issues or complaints brought before them. One of the most common ethical issues brought before them is the right of an individual to smoke in public. Smokers also have human rights that are protected by the constitution. One of these is the freedom to choose. If they choose to smoke, we cannot stop them. But, what we can do is limit the exposure of non smokers to the smoking population in order to accommodate the health concerns of the latter. But what ethical decisions can we make regarding restaurants and buildings where both parties freely mingle? I have a few suggestions that may help ease the growing tension and often times violent encounters of the two parties. Restaurants must accommodate both smokers and non smokers without adding to the already building tension regarding smoker’s rights. It may sound like a return to segregation but the only solution to this problem would be to require restaurants, bars, and other public dining or drinking areas to have al fresco dining areas with tent covers for the snow or rain seasons, which will be assigned as the sole smoking area of the restaurant. All non smokers must be seated in the air conditioned area indoors wherein smoking will be strictly prohibited. In offices where there is a mixture of non smoking and smoking employees, there must be full compliance of the non smoking in enclosed spaces rules. The office should however, designate smoking areas to accommodate the smokers. This area may be the rooftop of the building that must be designed as some sort of garden where live plants must be planted in order to absorb the toxic smoke and provide the area with fresh air for the people staying there to enjoy a smoke. Smokers may not believe they need protection from their habits but we have to do our part in protecting them from themselves. The town council ruling regarding smoking in public places is not a perfect law, it should be open to revisions and addendums as complaints arise to be dealt with. The town council must also acknowledge that maybe the smokers may have some ideas that will benefit or indulge their habit without damaging the non smokers in public places. So the town council should set up an office or a desk that will accept suggestions from both smokers and non smokers in the hope of accommodating the rights of both parties. As such, the town council should be open to amending the non smoking in private places ruling using the suggestions from the parties concerned. In the end, there is no need to alienate either the non smokers or smokers. Even though there have been countless medical studies, results, and warnings aimed towards the public regarding the hazards of both first hand and second hand smoke, smoking has become a legalized addiction that we have to learn to tolerate or, as the case may be, accommodate. There are a number of ways wherein we can accommodate smokers and non-smokers needs provided that both parties are open to cooperating with each other. The Town Council must to its part as the mediator between the two parties and help them to come to terms and agreements that will be beneficial to all concerned.