France has struggled to kick its smoking habit. A new public health decree published Saturday aims to change that. In the coming days, smoking will be banned in all French parks and sports venues, at beaches and bus stops, in a perimeter around all schools, and anywhere children could gather in public.
Parks for me is also a bit of a headscratcher. Maybe something like banned in parks between 6:00 am to 21:00 pm could be a more differentiated solution?
I understand also the "your freedom ends where my freedom starts" but that is a two way statement IMO. Yes you should not smoke where you will bother other people, but if somebody wants to smoke in public (after considerations for children and littering have been made) its also their freedom that should not be impeded without good reason in a blanket way.
Personally I do not like dogs and feel significantly impeded in many freedoms due to their unquestioned ubiquity in public spaces. Your freedom to own a dog ends where my freedom to not be bothered by fear, noise and shit all over the place starts. sadly my freedom in this case is so far not respected enough by any means, but I still would not want them to be blanket banned in public spaces. I mean I personally would enjoy that but I do recognise that its also the freedom of other people to own a dog. I think similar arguments can be made about smoking...