The question as to whether it is fair to ban public housing tenants from smoking attracts a lot of mixed responses from the public. However, there is no common universal argument for either faction supporting or not supporting the ban of New York public housing tenants from smoking. The New York article presents two diverging opinions from Ritchie Torres and Tony Marcano. While Torres agrees to the ban, Tony Marcano, an ardent campaigner for non-smoking habits, says no to the ban on smoking in Public Housing tenants.
On the one hand, Ritchie Torres expresses mixed reactions. Prior to the change of opinion, Torres thought that the government should concentrate on other issues affecting public housing tenants before intruding into their privacy. Similarly, Torres also bases a yes answer to the question of the fact that tobacco is dangerous and counts among the highest killers in the US (Jamal et al., 2018). On the other hand, Marcano solidly disagrees with the idea to ban smoking in public housing, arguing that such are the sanctions that target low-income earners. His opinion is coiled around the fact that such bans should not come to people’s own houses. Moreover, the government should let people put up voluntary bans in their neighborhoods on smoking.
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Indeed, initiating a ban on smoking to the extent of reaching citizen’s living rooms goes against privacy rights. Tobacco has numerous impacts and is rated among the leading causes of death in the US (West, 2017). The fact that this ban is initiated on public housing is a clear indication of targeting poor people and attempting to invade their privacy. Citizens are entitled to other rights which include the right to privacy, among others. In as much as the government is responsible for ensuring a tobacco-free society, enforcing such a ban on individuals’ houses would greatly breach their privacy. Therefore, the government should initiate bans of smoking in public places and let people have voluntary bans on their houses and neighborhoods.
References
Jamal, A., Phillips, E., Gentzke, A. S., Homa, D. M., Babb, S. D., King, B. A., & Neff, L. J. (2018). Current cigarette smoking among adults—United States, 2016. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report , 67 (2), 53.
West, R. (2017). Tobacco smoking: Health impact, prevalence, correlates and interventions. Psychology & health , 32 (8), 1018-1036.
