text: Penn and Teller did an episode on this for their show "Bullsh1t."  http://www.sho.com/site/ptbs/prevepisodes.do?episodeid=s1/shs\n\nYou can't download the ep, but if you ever get a chance, Tivo some eps and watch 'em.\n\nThey say, no, it's not so bad.  It's just a lot of people getting up in arms about it, and wanting things their way.  For crying out loud, LA has more pollutants in the air on any given day than a whole pack of cigarettes that you smoke your very own self.  \n\nPeople get really worked up about smoke.  It's a nuisance because the smoke irritates people who don't like the smell.  Therefore, they put together some BS reports (which Penn and Teller totally ripped to shreds...most of the "statistics" are from an old report that was inconclusive and taken out of context anyway.)\n\nWhy aren't bars held accountable for drunk driving deaths?  People have to DRIVE to and from them, duh, so of course they're going to be drunk when they drive.  The tobacco companies get blamed for lung cancer deaths, but alcohol companies and bars don't get blamed one bit for alcohol related deaths.  Totally unfair.  \n\nAs for taxes, supposedly those go into lung cancer research (ummmm...sure they do) and to defray medical/medicare costs for smoke related illnesses.  I have no problem with it, or having to pay a tax on each pack of cigarettes.  Heck, a Starbuck's coffee costs more than a pack of smokes, and it doesn't last nearly as long.\n\nAll that aside, smoking isn't exactly healthy, ya know?  But we know it, and still smoke.  Fat people still don't lose weight even though it's shown that being overweight leads to diabetes, heart disease, and other problems.  (That's a pet peeve, that medical insurance costs more for a smoker but not more for overweight people or alcoholics)\n\nThere's a really funny novel about trends and how people follow them like sheep.  It implies that anti-smoking rules are the same as any fad; people going along with it just because everyone else seems to...The Bellwether, by Connie Willis.  It's very subtle, but a good read.