"You ex-smokers are all the same!"

the smoker growled at me. He was glaring too. 

Someone else's dog tied to the railing where I had parked my tricycle started to bark at the smoker.  It wasn't a nice bark and his tail wasn't wagging. 

The smoker went towards him with a "And you shut the.... up!" The dog growled.

"Bloody dangerous animal! What the f.... do people think...." 

"This is a non-smoking area," I said again, "And the dog isn't dangerous. He just doesn't like you."

"F.... ridiculous! I can smoke here if I bloody well want to." 

I knew I wasn't going to get any further. I looked at the dog. The dog looked at me. I put my hand out. He sniffed it and wagged his tail. Yes, we understood each other. No, I wasn't taking a risk. It is not the first time the dog and I have come across one another.

I have never smoked. I have never even tried to smoke a cigarette. If it is a non-smoking area then I believe I have every right to point it out, particularly as children sometimes wait with their dogs while a parent "pops in" to get a paper or one or two items. It's safe enough from the abduction point of view because there is a cafe adjacent from which there is a clear view. The problem is that it is not safe from those who still believe that smoking in a particular place is their right - even though it is a non-smoking area.

Cigarette smoke (and very little of it) leaves me with red eyes, a running nose, a feeling of not being able to breathe and more. I avoid it. I was never really able to tolerate it. I never felt comfortable around smokers. At university the Dean of Students in the Law faculty informed the staff member who supervised my honours thesis that he would see me in the library. "Cat, doesn't need to spend time in the fog in your office." I would never have said that but I might have politely asked if we could see each other outside if he wanted to go on smoking. He was at least a forty-a-day man - as was my Constitutional Law lecturer. My Trusts lecturer was not much better. They were highly intelligent men who could not kick the habit. It is a very addictive habit. Why start at all?

We could do more to reduce the rate of smoking. We could cease the sale of tobacco anywhere but the chemist and only have it available on prescription from there.  We could have a "licence" to smoke which would need to be produced on request.  Yes, those things would send smokers underground and to the black market - but it would probably reduce the rate of smoking. We could double the rate they pay for the Medicare levy and deny them any form of health insurance while telling them they will always be further down the list for treatment than a non-smoker. Yes, those things would cause cries of "not fair" but it might help too.

Why do smokers still believe they have rights not available to the rest of us?  I would much rather have dogs wagging their tails at me.