A new law in Richmond, California is outlawing cigarette smoking in all apartments, condominiums and public places. When my family and I were in San Francisco a few years ago, I remember how hard it was for my aunt to find a place to smoke—I’m sure residents of Richmond are feeling her pain.

Apparently the big anti-smoking campaign is in response to the American Lung Association grading the city with an “F.”

The ban will be enforced by January 1, 2001, following a ban already in effect against smoking in farmers markets, parks and other public places. Fines for smoking in an apartment will begin at $100.

As a non-smoker, I’d be pretty elated if this were in my city. After all, smoking smells disgusting, and it could cause a fire to my apartment that I certainly didn’t have anything to do with. Secondhand smoke can be dangerous as well, and I have a kid to think about.

Plus, my grandmother and aunt both died of lung cancer, and my little sister has sadly picked up the habit that my mother has on-again, off-again had all her life. Smoking makes me angry, sad, and literally sick— I’m asthmatic, and any day I’m around smoke I have trouble breathing, even trouble sleeping sometimes. And I can’t stand it when we visit smokers and return home with stinky clothes and my entire family has to immediately disrobe and take showers.

In short, yeah, I can definitely dig this law.

But I an also see how it may not be fair to smokers. I’m a big fan of live and let live (of course, if you let someone smoke, are you really letting them live…?), of do what you want as long as nobody gets hurt (again, somebody is getting hurt here…). This means that people should be allowed to do as they please in their own homes—which includes smoking in their apartments.

If you can’t smoke in your own apartment, where do you have left to go? You can either stop smoking altogether (the point?), or refine yourself to tiny smoking areas (remember the scene from The Onion Movie where everybody commutes to the last smoking room in the country?).

So while I’m definitely leaning in favor of the law, I can also see the other side. What do you think? Is it a fair law? Or is it unfair to smokers?