Letter: Smoking should be prohibited

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004 | 9:26 a.m.

Contrary to the suggestion in Shel Berlatsky's Feb. 19 letter, "Casinos should have nonsmoking sections -- now," the only answer to killer tobacco smoke is to prohibit it completely! Adults are no more expendable than our children. A "nonsmoking section" is nothing more than another ridiculous invention from the tobacco people. It works no better than the "nonchlorinated section" of a swimming pool.

We all have a right to smoke-free air. No one has any "right" to smoke and poison the air around others. Meanwhile, ambient tobacco smoke kills 65,000 innocent Americans every year. Las Vegas is a major contributor to this genocide. When I visited your city, I found it to be a veritable cesspool of tobacco smoke, from the airport to the taxis to the hotels and casinos.

Let government exercise its prime directive: to protect the health, safety and welfare of all of the people. Banning lethal tobacco smoke in all public places and workplaces (indoors and out) most certainly fulfills those objectives.

Smoke-free air is good for people and for business. Only the tobacco people and their "friends" continue to dispute the facts.

DAVE JOHNSON Arlington, Texas