I just heard about the 'no smoking in cars with kids' laws that are sweeping the nation. I'm so in favor of this it isn't even funny. I HATE seeing people smoke with kids in the car. Like they can't wait 20 minutes to have a cigarette? Smokers (I was one for seven years before kids) don't really want to consider the harm they are doing to themselves and to others with their addiction, nor do they even realize how stinky cigarette smoke is. Separating them from their cigarettes is a great way to show them ... this is a good smell, and this is how you smell.

Between my parents smoking and my former smoking, I have only breathed fresh air for eight/my 30 years of life. Hmm ... didn't know I liked to jog! Ohio just passed a ban in all buildings. That means business owners can't even smoke in their own establishments; my mom can't sell anyone a stinky, yellowed vacuum cleaner anymore.

Gosh, my third job was at a kiosk at the mall. There I smoked, read books, smoked more, and sold bonsai trees. Smoking in the malls has been banned for almost 15 years now. Amazing! Last year, Cleveland health systems (hospitals and their kin) completely banned smoking on their premises. That means nurses have to jump in their Pontiacs and drive down the street for seven minutes of pleasure. In 1976, my mom was in the hospital's smoking lounge between contractions. Big difference in 30 years!

And finally, my husband's parents smoked his young life away, too. Only, he was taken down to the principal's office in sixth grade for accusations that his stinky appearance must have been caused by his own experimentation with deadly cigarettes. How do you talk your way out of that one?

I feel for smokers because I know how strong the compulsion to smoke is. Kids need to be taught, not just about the dangers of tobacco, but the facts about addiction. Drugs stigmatized as addictive have always been less popular.