Commentary: Right to smoke brings obligation to respect others

In the mid ‘80s, I struggled with the conflict in my own mind between individual rights and the role of government to regulate our everyday affairs. The conflict, particularly the right to smoke in public places, was resolved when I received a letter from a sixth-grade student from Cankton Elementary. She stated that she suffered from asthma and allergies and could not go into restaurants where there was smoke for fear that she would get an attack. That was it. No conflict. The role of government is to protect everyone’s individual rights, including the girl’s right to breathe inside a restaurant.
Yes, we have rights, and I will always defend them. But, those rights cannot interfere with someone else’s. As someone once said, your rights end where my nose begins.

Following the letter from the sixth grade student, who also revealed there was smoking in the school bathroom and questioned the legality of minors purchasing cigarettes, I sponsored the first bill in the Louisiana House of Representatives to prohibit minors from purchasing tobacco products. The bill was assailed by lobbyists and killed in the Legislature. It took three years of filing before it finally passed.

Additionally, I filed a bill on “Clean Indoor Air” which would have set some regulations on smoking in the workplace, governmental buildings and public places. The tobacco lobbyists eventually allowed a bill to be passed several years later, but only after they had watered it down to make it difficult to administer.
During the years of debate, I have heard just about every possible argument and analogy, for and against. It’s been argued that the restaurant business would suffer because smokers would stay home. However, in states and cities where similar measures were adopted, dining in restaurants actually increased. Years ago there was an uproar when airlines, under an FAA mandate, banned smoking. Today, it’s not even an issue.

We must remember that for every right comes responsibility. Our freedom comes with a responsibility to defend it. Our right to vote comes with a responsibility to exercise it. Our right to smoke comes with the responsibility to respect another person’s right to breathe. That other person could be a child with asthma.

Raymond “LaLa” Lalonde is a retired educator and former member of the state Legislature.