There has been some conflict in interest in opinion in the City of Las Cruces. The ban of smoking in public places includes public parks, private clubs, and bars, has not been agreed upon by all. There has been a petition with 3,500 signatures turned in to the city council in favor of repealing the ordinance. The minimum amount of signatures needed to repeal the ordinance was 1,534. The council passed the ordinance on October 7th, 2002 in a 4-3 vote. Petitioner's then had 30 days to file the petition. On November 4th, 2002 the ban was suspended, and is pending. Right now the ordinance only covers a persons car, home, or other private buildings, such as a smoking hotel room. People who are for the ordinance range from people who are allergic to smoke, to those who feel that smoking is bad for your health. Other's say they just don't like the smell. I think that they should only smoke in places like bars, nightclubs, and anywhere they serve alcohol. .
These places are more sociable, and people tend to smoke in these places because of the alcohol. Drinking alcohol is an unhealthy habit and people go to bars to practice this habit. People that smoke are also practicing an unhealthy habit. Why not let people that want to practice unhealthy habits do that in these places. .
In my personal opinion I feel that smoking is an unhealthy habit, and that no one should smoke, but that is only my opinion and not fair to everyone else. As I was doing research on this assignment I asked some people their opinion on this. I spoke with an older woman in her 60's, and she said that it just kills her every time she smells smoke. I asked another man his opinion and he said "I've been smoking for 40 year's and now your trying to stop me?" as he was going on and on I just thought we should let the majority decide. It's interesting to see how this one is going to turn out.
