No Smoking! It's the Law!

Foreigners visiting New York are always surprised by the platoons of people lurking in the doorways and outside office buildings, furtively puffing cigarettes even in appalling weather. Now comes Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has just signed the toughest anti-smoking law in the world. Not content with the punitive taxes that have driven a pack of Marlboros to more than $7.50, the mayor and the city council have just outlawed smoking in all workplaces and public spaces, including restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

The skulkers in drafty doorways may thus be joined by affluent investment bankers in bow ties, who can no longer seek refuge in their oak-paneled lounges to enjoy a discreet cigar in a plush leather armchair--because the ban extends to the sanctuary of private clubs as well. An Englishman's club may be his castle, but the New Yorker's is now a smoke-free zone.

Europeans, especially, make fun of the ban. But really, Bloomberg's got a point. It's nice not to be choking on secondhand smoke--as I do too often when traveling. What about New Yorkers' long-held right to do themselves harm? Not when it endangers others, retorts Hizzoner, who gave up smoking two decades back but reportedly celebrated a daughter's birthday five years ago at the City Wine and Cigar Company. The link between tobacco and cancer is well established, and those willful enough (or dumb enough) to risk their own lives have no right to impose their vice on others.

The ban comes at a time when disapproval of smoking is virtually unanimous, even among smokers. Most who still puff do so in a combination of guilt and self-destructive defiance, as if to say, "I know what I'm doing is bad and stupid, but I can't help myself." The educational system has confirmed negative attitudes in the younger generation, ...