I tried.  I tried to stay out of it.  I couldn't.
 
Fact: I am a non-smoker.  Quit 1.5 years ago when I found out I was
pregnant.
 
Fact: I smoked with ferrets in my home.
 
Fact: My husband still smokes.
 
Ok, now we've got that out of the way, some other points:
I smoked with my ferrets in the apartment.  There were rules.  Nobody
smoked in my bedroom at all ever.  That was the ferrets' home address.
Nobody smoked in the apartment at all when the ferrets were out in the
evening.  Nobody smoked under any circumstances unless there was at least
one closed door between the smoke and the ferts.  Now, nobody smokes in
my house at all.  My husband smokes in the garage.  He also doesn't smoke
at all around the ferrets, our daughter, or any clean laundry.
 
It certainly can't be denied that cigarettes cause problems.  And even
if there wasn't a study, I think it'd be pretty safe to assume that a
smoke-born carcinogen would damage ANY mammailian species for any number
of reasons.  Or at least, I'd be better safe than sorry on that one.
 
Smoking around ferrets isn't a good idea.  Smoking isn't a great idea,
and I knew that even when I smoked.  So do most who smoke.  I'd always
advise people to quit if they can.  I did when I smoked, and I do now.
I'd always advise people to stay away from smokey places if they don't
like it, too.  I did then and I do now.
 
As to legislation, I have an example.  Last year, the state of Nebraska
raised the cigarette tax by almost 100%.  (Now $0.64/pack, was $0.34.)
At the following link you can see exactly how the state spends the tax
revenues (and how much they were).
 
http://www.unicam.state.ne.us/app_rev/source/narr_miscstatetax.htm
 
I personally, besides three cents per pack to cancer research, don't
see anywhere where it says "The money generated by cigarette taxes goes
to pay for medical expenses from all the health care problems caused by
cigarettes." In fact, besides that few pennies per pack to cancer
research, I don't see ANY health related expenditures resulting from
the cigarette tax.
 
I don't support an increase to cigarettes just because our state faces a
huge budget deficit.  During the year the cigarette tax was raised, the
state cut medi-caid funding and education spending.  The entire rest of
the budget was made up for by cigarette taxes.  What happens when you
succeed, and people start really quitting smoking en masse?  I hate to
say it, but you've got a bunch more healthy people, and a bunch less tax
revenue.  So be careful what you wish for.  The students in Nebraska
won't have any paper to write on.
 
What about the alcohol tax?  It generates well less than half the amount
cigarettes do.  And alcohol related tax-payer costs aren't limited to
health costs and making no-smoking signs for public places.  They extend
to counseling for domestic abuse, increased police force, paying overtime
to cops on Husker football saturdays, etc.  And alcohol-related illness
isn't the only way people die from alcohol.  I'm also an occasional
drinker, and I'm sure I don't want to spend a whole lot more than $3.50
on a whiskey sour.  But the fact is, cigarettes are made into the demon
these days, but are NOT the only, or the most, damaging to either
taxpayers' pocketbooks or to society in general.
 
Like I said, it can't be denied that cigarettes cause problems, and I
wouldn't suggest that anyone smoke if they could go without.  And those
who choose to smoke, for the safety of your animals, don't smoke around
them.  It just makes good sense.  But DeathAdder has a point.  You can't
blame it all on the smokers.  They carried the butt of the Nebraska state
legislature last year, and someday, maybe they won't anymore.  Then where
will we be?
 
Melissa Rotert, non-smoker
Non-smoking ferts, Mira, Robin, Samurai and O'Dell
Missing Cael, Booboo, Tasha and Nietzsche always
[Posted in FML issue 4270]