Smoking at Airventure,

[Bill Greenwood]

For "1600VW" who is indignant about smoking bans at EAA.
To address some of the things he writes with much emotion.

1. When these old guys were fighting WWII or even in Korea, medical research was not at the stage it is now. For the last 40 years at least, the medical profession knows without a doubt the smoking causes not only lung cancer but leads to heart disease as well. Chewing tobacco even says right on the can that it causes mouth cancer,and some people even use it as their teeth fall out..After a long fight by the tobacco companies, including even lying to Congress, now it is clear and well known by society that tobacco is poison.
And unlike something which can be harmful in excess, but even a benefit in moderation such as red wine, tobacco is poison from the first use.
So today is different than when the army used to even give out cigs to soldiers.

2. You do no favor to anyone, even an older person, by defending their "right" to use something that is poison.
I never was a smoker, tried it once at 14 and it tasted bad. But doctors say that nicotine is one of the most addicting substances and hardest to break. I feel sorry for those who are controlled by it. If donuts and Dr. Pepper tasted like tobacco I'd be skinnier no doubt.
But some people do quit, and no matter if you have smoked for years, the body can repair some damage short of cancer. It is not too late to improve, or at least to hurt yourself less.I have two friends who are EAA volunteers and I use to joke with them about their smoking. Finally, almost in tears, they said how they'd like to quit but how hard it was. They never gave up and they didn't blame others and have been free of the habit for 10 years now.

3. If a smoker wants to put a hood over his head or do it only in a private closed area, maybe that is one thing.
But that is not how smoking is and has been done. When you look at the grounds around smokers it will be littered with butts. If cigs are so great, let them eat em, not throw them on the ground or out the car window. You don't really see half eaten donuts or cookies all over the place.

4. Most of all, the supposed "right" of a smoker ends when he impinges on anyone else's right to clean air. Does the old guy or anyone else have the right to blow their exhaust on a child or infant in their home or car? It's child abuse, even if it is not done all at once. But if you are addicted enough, you don't, even can't care about others, the only thing important is getting your fix.
If one smokes in an apartment, the smoke can get into others homes also. Even the smell and some of the poison lingers in clothing and carpets and drapes. I don't go inside a local gas station anymore because when I do come out with the stink in my clothes.

5. Certainly all smokers are not "dumb", even smart people can do dumb things, just as they can fly a plane too low or drive a Corvette too fast. But there is certainly a correlation between education levels and smoking.I am pretty sure you are going to find a lot more tobacco use at a motorcycle or Nascar race or tractor pull than at a Stanford event.

6. Our govt. has for almost a century made war on marijuana, a drug which is probably harmless and in some cases even good medicine. This war was probably supported in large part by your old guys, at the same time they and the govt were allowing and even pushing alcohol and tobacco on the public. Not a single adult autopsy ever list the cause of death as directly from marijuana, but our prisons have been full of people that were persecuted for using it. That is finally starting to change. And no,I don't use it or advocate it while flying.

The moral thing for our society to do would be to make all tobacco illegal, growing or selling, as it is known to be the poison that the govt has claimed that pot was.

By the way, I guess you and any of the old guys have the right to not wash your hands before eating, but you don't have the right to do this when it affects others like serving food or doing health care, anytime it would harm others. Same with blowing smoke on people.