Dear Answer Girl,
Why do people insist on smoking behind the signs in front of buildings that clearly state, “No smoking beyond this point?”
I realize that it was a dreary winter, but just because a person needs a hit of nicotine does not mean that my lungs should suffer. They have cars to sit in, and as harsh as it sounds, if they don’t feel like walking to their cars, then they should at least respect the people who chose not to kill themselves puff by puff and not smoke all huddled up under the building. It is ridiculous.
It’s bad enough when you are stuck walking behind a smoker, but no one should have to endure having to walk through the smoke screen just to get to class.
Looking out for my lungs
Okay, I think I’ll start with the question part. My guess is that people insist on smoking behind the signs that say, “No smoking beyond this point,” because there is not a big burly bouncer-like man waiting there to pummel unruly smokers over the head with a turkey drumstick.
I have no idea why the burly man would have a turkey drumstick. Perhaps he just came from a Medieval/Renaissance type festival, where gigantic turkey drumsticks are the only edible items for sale.
Anyway, if there was a big burly man waiting behind every “No smoking” sign with a half-eaten and slightly-drooled-upon turkey drumstick with which to pummel the persistent puffers, I think the sign-ignoring smoking would speedily stop. But, sadly, ETSU does not currently have such a team of big burly men to guard the entrances and doorways of our academic, administrative and residential buildings.
Perhaps we should start a letter-writing campaign for these essential new hires.
For now, though, perhaps every smoker who smokes in doorways has read your complaint, and now they will gracefully take a few steps into the zone before the “beyond this point” area.
Or maybe many people will make a summer resolution to quit smoking on campus altogether.
I would definitely encourage all non-smokers to hold their breath while walking through the “smoke screen” as you so nicely put it. As everyone has heard a million times, there are bunches of chemicals in cigarette smoke, and it’s probably better not to suck them all in right before class. Or anytime.
Better still would be some sort of smoke-resistant mask. Maybe if every non-smoker began to wear a smoke-resistant mask, smokers would feel so uncomfortable that they would quit smoking.
Maybe they would just chuckle. If I were the kind of smoker who smokes behind no-smoking signs, I would probably just chuckle. But then, I’m not that kind of smoker. Or any kind.
Anyway, what we need is enforcement. When the big burly men arrive, the rule breaking will cease. Take my word for it.Dear Answer Girl,
What do you think is more dangerous to individuals and society, smoking marijuana or drinking alcohol?
High and Mighty

I have always thought it was weird that we say “drinking alcohol.” I know it’s not even the same usage, but it makes me think of “rubbing alcohol,” which then gives me the strange mental picture of someone dabbing at an abrasion with some rubbing alcohol on a gauze strip, wincing with pain, realizing that he meant to grab the peroxide instead, and then shrugging as he takes a swig from the rubbing alcohol bottle.
But as far as the question (oh yeah, the question …), right this minute, I think smoking marijuana is more dangerous to the individual and drinking alcohol is more dangerous to society.
As far as physical health, I am unconvinced that marijuana smoke is any less dangerous to the lungs than cigarette smoke. That means cancer, cancer, cancer.
Of course, for the most part, people don’t smoke marijuana like cigarettes (a pack per day), but maybe that is because joints don’t come in packs.
No, it is probably because smoking marijuana results in a “high” that many compare to the effects of drinking, and it is prohibitively expensive and physically challenging to smoke joint after joint after joint.
So, as far as danger to individuals, while drinking too much can make you fat and give your internal organs lots of cancer as well as killing brain cells … oh wait, did I mention get you in car wrecks or get you pregnant (females only) or get you into precarious predicaments that you would not otherwise get into?
Anyway, so while drinking does all this, marijuana is more hazardous to the individual because it is illegal and can result in jail time with some pretty unsavory cellmates.
Of course, it also kills brain cells and can get you into those predicaments I was mentioning. But mostly, it is illegal.
Drinking is more dangerous to society because many more people currently have bad-for-society drinking problems than have similar marijuana problems. This may have to do with the nature of drunken behavior or it may have to do with the fact that alcohol is legal and marijuana isn’t, and so alcohol is more available.
Whatever the reason, that’s my answer. Thanks for the question.

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