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Letter from Boston

Why I Don'T Smoke

By MASAKO YAMADA


私がたばこを吸わない理由

雅子さんは先週、自分が車を運転しない理由を説明しましたが、今週はたばこを吸わないわけを取り上げます。たばこは運転と同じように、若者が大人の気分を味わうために一度は試してみたいと思うものの一つ。10代のころ、周囲に流されないよう心がけていたのが、スモーカーにならずに済んだ理由だ、と雅子さんは言います。 喫煙しないことを誇りに思う マリファナ吸引は道徳問題

Compared to countries in Europe or Asia, America is often considered to have a strong anti-smoking stance.Indeed, increasing numbers of cities are banning smoking inside restaurants or public buildings. Boston is one of these cities.

Furious debates rage over whether this kind of widespread prohibition protects personal rights or infringes upon them. I usually try not to involve myself in these arguments. I basically consider myself an observer, especially since I've never smoked anything in my life.

People often express surprise over this, since even non-smokers have often tried a puff or two in their youth. Sometimes they ask me why. I can't say I have a clear answer. I'm certainly not a health fanatic. I love fried foods and I dislike exercise. I know that smoking is bad for you, but most people who smoke know this, too. I can try saying that I don't want to be addicted to chemicals, but one can counter that I'm addicted to coffee.

I suppose the main reason I never started smoking is that as an adolescent, when the urge to begin smoking is strongest, I had the clear vision that I did not want to be the sort of person who succumbs to peer pressure. Now that I'm in my late 20s, this sort of peer pressure is almost nonexistent. This is fortunate,considering that I'm much more apt to go with the flow now than when I was a teenager.

I know lots of people who truly cannot stand smoke and who show visible distaste when smokers light up in their vicinity. Some of them go as far as to criticize them. Watching other people smoke actually doesn't bother me. I often chat with my friends as they smoke outside the science building, and I don't even mind when people smoke in my apartment, as long as they do so near an open window. Certainly, they have no excuse for being rude to non-smokers, but they don't need to be lectured on how smoking harms them. They already know.

Interestingly, many people I know who don't smoke cigarettes do smoke pot. This may seem counterintuitive, considering that smoking marijuana is considered a serious crime in Japan, but smoking cigarettes is socially accepted. Actually,possession of marijuana is also a crime in the States, but the rules are often ignored.

It's true that a history of smoking pot can hurt the prospects of a presidential candidate and disqualify one from competing in sports, but this is usually treated as a moral issue, not a criminal one. Maybe I've been exposed to a more liberal atmosphere than most, but it seems that the people around me are actually quite sympathetic to those who have experimented.

I know lots of people who have smoked pot at some point in their lives: brilliant professors, boring graduate students, young girls in the suburbs, worldly club-goers. They are my friends, and as long as they don't hurt others and, ideally, they don't hurt themselves I can't reject them for being drug users or criminals.

Undoubtedly, drugs are at the root of many social ills in America, and I certainly don't want to advocate anything that harms society as a whole, especially the innocent. However, the fact of the matter is that many pot smokers are honest, intelligent people who make life better for many others. It would be a shame, and a loss, if such persons were locked up in jail or even just kicked out of school.

I would even go as far as to say that I'd rather associate with smokers with true character than with people who self-righteously follow all the rules but who have no interesting ideas to voice or kindness to share.

Given my past history, I don't think I'll ever smoke anything in the future. However, I still do hang out with smokers quite often, and in some cases, I find myself defending them.


Shukan ST: Aug. 25, 2000

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