Goldilocks,Originally Posted by goldilocks
While this may be your opinion, the Jamaican Health Minister Dr. Ferguson has a different take on it, including counseling:
" Ferguson urges smokers to respect rights of others
Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson has said he is willing to look at the possibility of allowing businesses, especially in the tourist industry, to have a special area outdoors to facilitate smokers.
Speaking on the Jamaica Information Service programme 'Issues and Answers' on Thursday, he was clear about not allowing smoking rooms.
"The evidence is clear that smoking kills. The evidence is clear that passive smoking kills. So, to put 10 to 15 persons in this room, what you are essentially setting up is a death chamber, because you now have concentration of smoking," he said.
NOT A WHOLESALE BAN
He pointed out that the new anti-smoking regulations are not a wholesale ban on smoking. "What we want to define is that once it (smoking) is going to impinge on someone else's right, then the ban chips in. So, in essence, if you want the right to smoke, do it where you do not affect the public in general," he said.
Ferguson said he was not averse to having a second look at the penalties for breaking the ban, to include mandatory counselling for offenders.
"I know some persons are a little worried about the fines, and even conviction. My thing is not about sending anyone to prison. So, probably we might need to look, in revisiting, at some kind of mandatory counselling sessions, because cigarette smoking is an addiction, and to that extent, it oftentimes require professional help," he said."
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...ead/lead5.html
All of this seems like a rather common sense approach to a well known health hazard...
