No Smoking...Even at Home

Smoking-designated areas are shrinking and vanishing by the day in California. The state already has banned smoking from many public places, such as restaurants, playgrounds, concert halls and some bars and beaches. Soon, California smokers won’t even be allowed to light up in their own home.

That could become a reality soon if the state Assembly approves a bill that would allow landlords to make their apartments smoke-free. The state Senate passed the bill in late May.

Proponents of the legislation say it protects non-smoking tenants’ health. However, critics say the bill is discriminatory against ethnic groups and those with lower incomes because those groups tend to have higher smoking rates and rent apartments more than other populations.

What do you think? Is the proposed ban against smoking in apartments a step in the right direction for people’s health or is it discriminating against people’s rights? Can they make people quit smoking to keep their homes? [Los Angeles Times]