Expelled

This picture is to wrap up my comment on "Smoking Allowed".
 
Last January, city of Berkeley passed a law banning smoking within 25 ft of doorways of public buildings, pushing smokers some 5 ft further away from the buildings.
 
In practice, I do not disagree with the law---I don't smoke, and as I've had problems with smokers before (I'm allergic), I would like them to smoke as far away from ventilation sources as possible.
 
But, in principle (and some part practice), I disagree with this legislating of etiquette. Smoking where it would not inconvenience others ought to be common courtesy, and legislations on such issues as this only encourages smokers to do what is minimally required---to straddle the line.
 
And where it matters, these laws do nothing. I've had problem with people smoking outside the dorm buildings---they were farther than 25 ft from the doorway, but that didn't matter, since they were updraft and the wind always blew all the smokes into the study room. And, in my office in Birge, I often have to deal with smokes coming from below---again, because of the shape of the building, even though the smokers are quite far away from doorways, wind carries it into the area between Birge and Le Conte and up into the offices.
 
No amount of distance laws will address this problem. No amount of legislation, short of banning tobacco products (which would be at least as stupid as the prohibition), will do anything. And yet, these laws only serve to annoy smokers and discriminate against them.
 
The money and efforts would be better spent if they would focus on awareness programs (i.e. harms of secondhand smoke, about people allergic to smoke particles, and how to avoid getting others exposed to your smoking), rather than these worthless laws.