Robert Reich vs. Big Tobacco | Robert Reich

March 25, 1994:
-Ace of Base had the #1 song
-D2: The Mighty Ducks hit movie theaters
-The Labor Department proposed a national workplace smoking ban
I can only claim credit for one of those things.

[@gregh2322]

The rise in public consciousness about smoking during that time helped me quit. Thank you, Mr. Reich.

[@ShawnHCorey]

Yes, thank you Rob.

[@fritzforsthoefel8031]

Big government that Reich advocates would lose billions if tobacco products was made illegal how would big government make up for the loss in revenue

[@democracydignityhumanrights]

It’s weird for me because where I come from people know it’s bad but still do it anyway 😂 I smoke too, I try to quit, and then I fail and have some. An unintentional consequence of for example banning selling single cigarettes means I have to buy a pack if I cave in when I try to quit. It makes it harder to not do it.

[@silkwoodart]

Common sense alone wasn't enough for you? You needed the extra screaming? Weak!

[@fritzforsthoefel8031]

Big Democrat big government needs tax revenue from tobacco

[@blammers]

Thank you for your leadership! Countless lives have been saved by banning smoking in public places.

[@tracesprite6078]

One of the saved lives was my dear auntie, here in Australia. She gave up smoking because it was such a nuisance to have to go outside for each cigarette. She lived a long, healthy life after that. Thank you Robert, for saving my dear auntie's life.

[@tracesprite6078]

Another life that Robert saved was my friend, Tony. He used to have a disgusting overflowing ash tray on his desk at work. There was always an ugly cigarette dangling off his lower lip. He gave up smoking and suddenly he looked so much more attractive that he married Bev, and they weren't lonely any more.

[@jackcarraway4707]

Smoking is the biggest waste of money. Not only is it horrendous for your health, it smells horrible too.

[@WoefulMinion]

Also nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world. The tobacco industry was counting on young adults getting hooked before learning how tough it would be to stop.

[@kurttrue2198]

@@WoefulMinion I would rather carry a pregnancy to term and deliver a seventeen-pound infant without painkillers than quit smoking again. And I'm a dude.

[@mjc0961]

Leaves disgusting residue all over everything too. The video clips of people smoking at their computers... Eew. I would not want to be IT at that company and be expected to dig around in computers covered in cigarette filth. Fans and heatsinks covered in crud, no thanks 🤢🤮

[@flatearthisahoax4030]

Somebody told me that if I keep on buying cigarettes for 10 to 20 years, it wouldve been equivalent to the cost of a single ferrari. I would rather wait 20 years to buy a ferrari than waste my life on cigarettes

[@user-account-not-found]

@@WoefulMinion about 1 100th the addictiveness of sugar.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

Even as a smoker, I agree with this law. Oh, not a law in the USA? It is in the UK. It protects my kids. No, I don't smoke near my, well, grandkids now, and still don't like to near my adult kids, but they have the choice as to whether to come near me (outside) or not.

[@janemillerick9614]

I live in the US (regrettably still hooked) but it’s (to me) unthinkable smoking at work and yet I can remember when we did.

[@tracesprite6078]

Years ago, because of a chronic cough, I had to have an operation where they sank a tube into my lungs. I had to be conscious during this operation so I could hold my breath at the right time. They explained that if I breathed at the wrong time, my lungs would fill with blood and I would die. I survived but my suggestion to you is to do all you can to look after your lungs so you can avoid having a needle sunk into your lungs. You CAN give up smoking and you will feel WAY better after you've done so. Prepare, get all the help you need and then walk away from the cancer-sticks forever.

[@spanqueluv9er]

@@tracesprite6078 I don’t think you understand surgery.🧐🤔🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤡💩🤷‍♂️

[@JustMe-vk4fn]

Long before I was born, my Dad volunteered at the age of 16 to become a Marine during WW II. By the time he got home from the war in 1945 he had a five pack a day cigarette habit because our OWN government issued packs of cigarettes in the soldiers MRE's to keep soldiers "alert" while on post. He died from lung and liver cancer at the age of 52. In my life my parents, my best friend from high school, several relatives, friends and most recently, my spouse have *all* caught cancer caused by tobacco products and *all* of it could have been avoided for *millions* of Americans except for the fact that saving their lives would have lowered profit margins for Big Tobacco, and - I suppose - for our For-Profit "Health"care System. Can't have *that* now, can we. >.

[@fritzforsthoefel8031]

Democrat programs have to be funded by things like tobacco vote out handout Democrats they are destroying us

[@ICTHINGSDIFF]

Lung cancer got my dad, long ago he told us about the free cigs handed out near his high school.

[@ImaLeshLushnIcantgetmyPhil]

So this is how the unscrupulous crack dealers, of the mid through late 80’s, learned it was a tested, proven marketing strategy, for widening their customer base. Except, they were selling illegal products and big tobacco was selling some equally addictive, legal drugs. Wonderful!!!

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

I smoked back in high school and when my elder sister found out, she slapped the hell out of me 😂

[@JoseLopez-tk4tq]

And how long did Big Tobacco lie about the addictive nature of nicotine? And they paid doctors to deny it!

[@Adones09]

Damn, I didn't know you were behind this. As a kid during that time and as an adult non-smoker, thank you Mr. Reich.

[@tylerhackner9731]

Regulations save lives

[@PhillipHilton]

Yes they do.

[@karlhungus545]

Regulations are the real reason that governments exist. Real leadership is instituting unpopular legislation even though you may lose votes because the population is selfish and 'uninformed' let's say. Very difficult to get that though when the USA allows legalized bribery of politicians...you know...like Rwanda 😂🙄

[@CP200S]

Unregulated social media spreads death

[@fritzforsthoefel8031]

Government allows tobacco to be legal for the tax revenue to fund big government programs how bad is that vote out big government Democrat programs before it's to late​@@karlhungus545

[@youtubesucks3393]

No they don't 😢

[@davidmachemer1015]

I really appreciate the change. I remember feeling oppressed every time someone in the office lit up another cigarette...

[@CRMcGee2]

Oppressed? Really? A bit over dramatic.

[@user-zu5do6ri6r]

It is oppression when we cannot control those around us.

[@drmodestoesq]

@@CRMcGee2Have you ever been in an elevator going up 20 floors with 4 people smoking in it? I don't think the word oppressed is too strong.

[@CRMcGee2]

@@drmodestoesq Oppressed means to be burdened by unjust or cruel restraints, or to be subjected to a harsh exercise of authority or power. It can also mean to be governed in an unfair and cruel way, and prevented from having opportunities and freedom. For example, "The country has long been oppressed by a ruthless dictator".

[@drmodestoesq]

@@CRMcGee2There you go....prevented from having opportunities. The opportunity to breathe air that's not full of carcinogens. If a coal miner has gotten black lung...you'd say that's a form of oppression. Same thing with breathing in someone else's cigarette smoke.

[@milfordcivic6755]

Quitting smoking in 2009 was the hardest and best thing I've ever done for myself. When I quit a carton of Marlboro's were $35. I don't know how people can afford to smoke now.

[@itsoktobehappy461]

You would be amazed what people can afford if it’s important enough to them

[@KevinThomas-ok2ev]

They can’t. But they do it anyway.

[@annepeiffer-mgr8312]

I suffered terribly because of others' smoking. I lost time at work due to illness and spent a great deal of money on allergy medications. Thank you for pushing for this change!

[@Aura-Of-Syrinx]

Thanks for making my diner weekend with grandma more enjoyable. She complained at first about not being able to smoke with breakfast but she didn't really care. I probably got a few more years out of spending time with her thanks to all the smoking area bans, so thank you for what you have done for that! ❤

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

Hey man I hate to break it to you but public high schools are a strong exception to that rule when kids are just vaping in an open area.

[@Aura-Of-Syrinx]

@@CriticalPopulistAnarchist you know anarchy can be positive and doesn't need negativity

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

@@Aura-Of-Syrinx Students have every right to be negative when they are also affected by this type of thing.

[@Aura-Of-Syrinx]

@CriticalPopulistAnarchist okay I'm just used to folks being all 'kids these days' yeah kids used to have to deal with cigs, now vaping, real stupid

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

@@Aura-Of-Syrinx hell I’m starting to be like that and I’m under 20 😂. I feel like I have grown up in a different time period

[@miaththered]

Thanks for trying back then.

[@johnchessant3012]

Across a country of 330 million people, just think about the number of lives saved and lengthened by these workplace protections. This is what we can accomplish when we stand against corporate greed.

[@user-zu5do6ri6r]

All of that was voided during the 2020 pandemic. When we pushed people into getting experimental vaccines.

[@DancerGirl-24]

I am very proud of our union (AEA) having passed a smoking ban at open calls, etc. We presented petitions from actors/actresses working in dinner theaters, just going to the lounge to see announcements, waiting to sing at an audition call - ew....the throat burned, the clothes and hair used to reek of smell.) I still feel the same about any air pollution sources.

[@NotSoMuchFrankly]

The quality of my life improved dramatically when CA banned indoor smoking. Whether it was running the gauntlet through the smoking sections on planes or in restaurants or going to a show to see music and not having to come home with my hair and clothes stinking (and even the car), being able to breath while there and the temperature in the room being noticeably comfortable, I'm grateful to this day.

[@l.a.gothro3999]

I dunno where my dad got this quote: "The only thing that stays the same is change." Change is an inevitable fact of life.

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

By that logic, people can just go to the bathroom and smoke in there. I’ve seen it in school, it’s only a matter of time before adults learn the trick.

[@BigBadWolf..............]

Thank you for all your hard work. Sincerely

[@moggadah]

It's like a discussion about freedom. What is freedom? Freedom to smoke and ruin other's dinners? Freedom to have guns and ocarinally people get shot? Freedom not to pay taxes and thus not help the needing? Is freedom the freedom to ruin other's lives? Or maybe freedom is when you build a society that has the capacity to help people becoming free? A society that creates a safe space for people.

[@Nemesisnxt]

Don’t patronize restaurants that allow smoking. I know it’s cliche, but guns don’t kill people, people kill people, and people have killed others for millennia before gunpowder was invented. Who doesn’t pay taxes, and if you say “the rich” you are wrong? Freedom isn’t necessarily “safe”, but neither is an oppressive government. It seems to me that the left confuses security with freedom. They are not the same thing. Security in food, security in housing, security in income. Security they want guaranteed by the government. A gov with that kind of power is the opposite of freedom. There are ALWAYS strings attached. Just look at the panic over SS, Trump might cut benefits or extend retirement age. You really want them to control more aspects of your life? Heck no.

[@moggadah]

@@Nemesisnxtfreedom is an elusive thing. What's freedom to one person is not important to another. For most of us it will always, in some sense, be a struggle. For some people cooperation is slavery. The problem is finding an agreement on what the sweet spot is. Meanwhile those who gain from the current situation will throw arguments at us.

[@lopoa126]

@@Nemesisnxttypical right wing brain rot

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

A “safe space” is damaging as it leaves you in an echo chamber. Growth happens when you expose yourself to uncomfortable stress instead of staying weak in your “safe space”.

[@moggadah]

@@CriticalPopulistAnarchist I'm just so fed up with people who put people in the categories "weak" vs "strong". Isn't that protofascism? Of course I know that some people like fascism. But that would be the last thing I want from life.

[@OrlaQuirk]

Back in the 80s, my mom and I were visiting family in another state, and my sister wanted to take me, my mom, and some of her friends, to a favorite restaurant of hers. I was having some problems with my allergies, and said I'd like to go to a place with a non-smoking section. No problem for anyone, so we went into the restaurant, greeted at the door by the host. Asked for a table in non-smoking section. Sorry, we don't have a non-smoking section. I spoke up and said I really didn't want to go somewhere with smoking, as I knew it would make me sick. My sister was already turning around to leave. One of the ladies suggested another restaurant that she knew to have a very good non-smoking area. Someone said, "I don't think they allow smoking at all." 6 ladies who lunch were on their way out. I caught the eye of the startled host and said, "You might want to mention it to your manager." I don't know if it made any difference, but shortly thereafter, the restaurant we refused to eat at, had established a nice non-smoking area. So speak up! Inform your congressmen and senators when you are not happy with their decisions, and praise them when you are.

[@soniaayalalopez1]

Here in Puerto Rico, smoking is also prohibited by law, to smoke in public when there are people around. Thanks for taking the initiative to protect the health of the Americans people.

[@eatmorenachos]

Tobacco smokers whine about their "right" to smoke. Well, they have a right to poison their own lungs---but NOT mine.

[@Northman1963]

Absolutely right!!

[@randysmith5435]

Now, if we could just get fossil fuels and the phenomenal amounts of carbon monoxide they produce that we inhale every day, banned. Oh right. Nobody wants to give up their gas powered engines.

[@virginiachris80]

They do?

[@sorangelmargulies8618]

Your absolutely right! They want emphysema? I don't

[@canadianpsycho1867]

so dont breathe it in. people with allergies dont get a ban on food in grocery stores that they are allergic to even though the smell alone can close up their breathing holes.

[@scottevensen2615]

That was only 30 years ago??? That's wild! I can't imagine living otherwise. So thankful for the Oregon Clean Air Act of 1981 👍

[@busysaru888]

Thank God you stuck to your guns all these years. You, Bernie, Nader and others I greatly admire and am grateful for all you've done!

[@matthewlawton9241]

As an asthmatic, I owe you everything. Thank you sir. Thank you! My life would not be livable as society was in the 80s and before.

[@LisaKBradley]

Thank you for standing up for us! I remember being in an office when I was young and the person next to me chain smoked all day. It was awful.

[@JRobinWhitley]

Thank you for doing this. As an asthmatic, you improved my life.

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

My little brother has asthma and people vaping in school is a really bad problem for him. I am really disheartened that he has to grow up in this kind of environment.

[@blaze0rama]

Thank you. The ban on smoking in my state has saved me so many bouts with pneumonia!

[@peterwoodhouse3239]

In the UK total ban on smoking in workplace, Total ban inside public buildings, bars and restaurants. Brilliant move.

[@Avery_4272]

That's wonderful! Bars and restaurants are workplaces for hundreds of thousands of people, and I'm glad they're being protected -- and that the customers are being protected, as well.

[@MySweetHeart-yu9zz]

Thank you!

[@THE-X-Force]

People always think change is impossible .. until change happens .. and then they look back and think why it didn't change sooner.

[@chihuahuasrule1175]

You did that? Thank you very very much! ❤❤❤❤

[@cms1381]

Thank you for that. I grew up a non-smoker in a smoking family. I felt like I couldn't escape it indoors. So, I spent most of my time outdoors when not in school. I watched this transition of public responsibility through my mid/late 20s ultimately seeing logic win. Unfortunately, in my early 30s, I had a battle with early cancer due to that previous exposure to second hand smoke. Fortunately, this many years later, I'm free and clear. Thanks to your early efforts, all of us have a better chance.

[@joycedavis9996]

Mr. Reich, Thank you🥰🤗

[@seth_piano]

I guess I owe a personal thanks to this guy :) I'm a product of the 90s, born asthmatic, to two cigarette-smoking parents. From as far back as I can remember, that was one of the cultural/generational shifts I was immediately aware of. It's good to know the source of it!

[@peach495]

A no smoking area in a restaurant is as efficacious as a no peeing area in a pool.

[@andrewharrison8436]

Underrated comment - no matter how many upvotes it gets, it will still be underrated.

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

You are right, people will find a way to get around it like vaping in the school bathrooms.

[@user-zu5do6ri6r]

There is nothing wrong with vaping in the bathroom.

[@KevinThomas-ok2ev]

Would you go into a pool that had a designated peeing section? There’s your solution right there.

[@Nurjamila1]

It was wonderful when nurses stopped smoking in the breakrooms, patients in their rooms & doctors when they came onto the floors to see patients. As a new nurse I couldn't believe it. Thank You for all of your hard work Mr. Reich, you're amazing!

[@hankhope178]

Thank you from a non-smoker who grew up with smoke everywhere, and in the heart of tobacco country with my own relatives growing it! I now believe that many if not most of my frequent childhood illnesses were either caused by or worsened by cigarette smoke and I am thankful to be able to BREATH almost everywhere now. Unfortunately, the casinos here in Las Vegas still allow smoking, though the ventilation systems in newer hotel casinos have greatly improved.

[@tracesprite6078]

I suggest that you avoid casinos as they have TWO ways to make your money go up in smoke - the poker machines and cigarettes.

[@commandosolo1266]

I'm one of those children who grew up around a smoker. When I finally left home for college, I entered a non-smoking environment for the first time in my life. When I returned, I found I could not be with my parent; I felt headaches, nausea, and astonishment that he loved tobacco more than me, and I had endured such awful toxicity since literally my infancy and earliest memory. My parent passed in '94, at 64 years of age, the same year the smoking ban took effect in California. From that day I've never had to endure second-hand smoke. I can scarcely express my relief and gratitude. I sincerely believe that we can put an end to the troubles the US faces if we ignore the shrill voices shrieking, "but my freedoms." Let us educate children from a young age to tolerate and care for people of all complexions, creeds, and genders, and not to tolerate intolerance. Let us reform our economic systems to put an end to money hoarding. Let us emulate more enlightened nations' gun laws. Let us recognize that our democracy is only as secure as our people are virtuous, and that the wisest and most enlightened laws cannot save us if our citizens are wicked.

[@tracesprite6078]

I totally agree with you. In Australia, we introduced the ban on smoking in the workplace - and my auntie gave up smoking because of it, thus saving her life. We also banned smoking in restaurants and bars and all shopping centers, thus saving the lives of other people. And the thing is, the smoking deaths are so horrible - you slowly die, knowing that your suffering will get worse each day until you suffocate! - sort of like having a car crash in slow motion.

[@KevinThomas-ok2ev]

You throw those terms, “wicked” and “virtuous” around pretty freely. Leaving it to you, I assume, to pick which is which. I want no part of the nanny state you’re proposing. It is not the governments job to protect people from themselves, which is where you’re headed here. Second hand smoke clouds the issue (no pun intended), but I’m vehemently opposed to the government passing smoking bans on PRIVATE property. If a restaurant wants to allow smoking, that should be his discretion. I’m not going to eat there so that’s his loss. But it should still be his choice. You’re going down a steep and very slippery slope here.

[@tracesprite6078]

@@KevinThomas-ok2ev Hi Kevin, in Australia we used to allow smoking in restaurants. Now we don't, and it is SO nice to go into a restaurant and to have clean air. We have always had clean air in cinemas, but I think in Britain, people had to put up with smoking in cinemas. YUK! Similarly, we now have smoke-free workplaces. Because it was so much trouble to keep getting up to go outside for a cigarette, my aunt gave up smoking and thus extended her good health for many years. I really loved my aunt and I'm so grateful for that. Similarly, a work colleague used to have this overflowing ashtray and skin which was literally grey with his heavy smoking. He had to stop smoking inside the workplace and it was so much healthier for us and MUCH healthier for him because he got extra exercise every time he went outside and at least, outside, he was smoking in the fresh air. His skin stopped being so grey. Then he found a new partner and she helped him to ditch the cigarettes so he could be with her for longer. I wish you good health and happiness.

[@KevinThomas-ok2ev]

@@tracesprite6078 I agree, and you won’t find a more vehement anti smoking advocate than myself. I’m equally opposed to alcohol. But I draw my line at the government trying to protect people from their own bad choices. And as I said, if a restaurant owner chooses to allow it, that’s his choice. The choice of patronizing that business is my own, so he’s willingly losing a potential customer. I just don’t want the government empowered to inflict that decision upon him, even if it results in something I’d prefer to see.

[@MrTomherzog]

Thank you, Professor Reich. I've experienced first hand the devastation that Big Tobacco has wreaked on society. Both of my parents died prematurely from their cigarette addictions. My father in 1968 when I was 11 and my mother in 1985. Before living out the final years of her life as a stroke crippled invalid after she had experienced her first stroke in 1978. She would succumb to another stroke seven years later living those final seven years as a broken paralytic. Watching her slowly die I feel into clinical depression at age 23 in 1980. My brother, smarter than I, simply left home at age 18 unable to watch the self-destruction of a profound addiction train-wreck that my mother had become. My fervent hope is that someday, somehow, someway, Big Tobacco will be held accountable. I recall they had several multi-billion dollar judgments against them back around 1988 which they managed to overturn on appeal. Like the criminal banks Big tobacco appears to be too big to fail. Perhaps one day justice will catch up with them. One can only hope.

[@YOGIROBBIE]

“Change can be painfully slow” 🙌🏾 I didn’t know this was in ‘94. Thank You for your advocacy for the community over the inhumane tobacco industry.

[@douglasspickler4925]

Thanks, Robert, for the smoking ban. I believe it is the right thing to do.

[@fritzsmith3296]

In 1970 while attending UMASS engineering school, the professor instructed us we could "smoke" in class as long as we brought our own ashtrays to class. How things have changed.

[@ScarySkele]

I had to deal with this firsthand in the bathrooms of Highschool…. Vaping. My stance having to learn about the negative health effects, consequences, and risks from the vapors then deal with those onto my body without my consent was “schools should ban them”. I can empathize with the workstaff decades ago and thank Robert Reich for his “radical extremist” stance. It is not radical or extreme to care about others health. Vaping breaks/smoking breaks outside & away from your fellow mates were made and are still around, maybe just maybe compassion and empathy go a long way. Thank you.

[@tracesprite6078]

Please don't smoke or vape or do drugs. Claim your good health.

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

Yeah everyone vapes in school and it sucks. I’m saying this as an older teen in high school

[@ScarySkele]

@@CriticalPopulistAnarchist Schools really need to crackdown on it harder, I empathize with your struggle… It sucks and shouldn’t even be a thing in the modern day to fear about breathing in harmful substances from fellow classmates, disgusting.

[@CriticalPopulistAnarchist]

@@ScarySkele Thank you very much! I don’t do well with smoke so I cough a lot and my chest starts hurting. I have a considerable sensitivity to it and other things like weed, tabacco, cigarettes etc. It’s been a side effect since I quit smoking in middle school 😅

[@ScarySkele]

@@CriticalPopulistAnarchist Yeah I went through HS, not fun. I had fears entering the bathrooms of getting cancer/lung disease down the line… The anxiety was bad. Sorry about the predicament you are in, just know HS isn’t forever and since you are an older person you should be outta there in no time. Just hang in there, prayers to you.

[@Rock2005Star]

So cool! And how many ppl are still alive today or lived much longer because of this? COUNTLESS!!!!! 👌👌👌

[@erniecolussy1705]

There are still many other issues with indoor air quality at many work places. Many HVAC system are either grandfathered into remaining in use or not functioning properly. These are causing long and short term health problems.

[@mohdqariahmad3381]

0:50

[@mohdqariahmad3381]

😊😊😊

[@michaelhogan2256]

Thank you for getting that going. I was very grateful when bars and restaurants went smoke free back in the day. Can’t stand having to toss all my clothes in the washer immediately after coming home and showering to keep myself from smelling like an ashtray.

[@Avery_4272]

You are so spot on, professor. In the 1990s, when activists strove to change the law to protect all employees from secondhand smoke by reminding their representatives that restaurants and bars are indeed workplaces for hundreds of thousands of people, they received a lot of resistance and guff. At that time, employees in many other workplaces were protected. Activists knew it was discriminatory not to protect all employees in all workplaces. After several years they got that protection into the law in several states -- and what began as a grassroots effort eventually resulted in a triumph over a billion-dollar industry of conscienceless salespeople. Oh -- and despite the scare tactics opponents used -- i.e., "but no one will go to bars and restaurants anymore," state tax records showed that business increased in restaurants and bars after the new smokefree law was in place.

[@thepicturemandannydannytho5711]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU ARE APPRECIATED. I IS TRULY AMAZING HOW SELF PEOPLE CAN BE.

[@MurdockEx]

The smoke bans were a big influence on helping me quit smoking. Thank you.

[@coolraul07]

I was so lucky that EVERY place that I worked (going back to mid-80s) had some form of smoking restrictions whereas I could work in a smoke-free environment. I would often still have to walk through plumes of smoke to/from my way to my actual jobsite, but I could hold my breath for those few sections. Even though VA isn't one of those orange states on the map, at least they have a total ban in restaurants. I always likened a "non-smoking section" there to a "non-peeing section" in a swimming pool!

[@OptimisticHominid]

Thank you Robert. Smoking in work was stupid, smoking on planes was stupid, smoking in cinemas was stupid, oh, and smoking is stupid!

[@pangaeawriter8766]

That was you, Mr. Reich?! I was too young to really understand it at the time. I thank you!

[@Ratigan2]

That motivational speech at the end had me choked up. Robert you really are doing a service to not only your country but educating people around the world as well. Thank you

[@karmicsheila63]

Thank you Robert for everything you do to try to raise the consciousness of the people in our country. In a huge tobacco growing state (KY), my father died from emphysema at age 56, after 35 years of smoking. I never smoked , and am actually very sensitive to cigarette smoke. I was exposed to second hand smoke for the 10 years I worked in the service industry though. I was overjoyed when the no smoking ban was finally passed in Louisville first, and then in the rest of KY. It is the single worse thing that anyone can do to their health, and the tobacco companies never cared. All about $$.

[@jodi5868]

Thank you, Sir. What an innovative idea. Old enough to remember when people had ash trays on their desks. In the hospitals, on airplanes… now I don’t even know a smoker who does it in their car or home. Hmmm… I still miss smoking 20 years later.

[@liam3284]

As an asthmatic, for most things I can manage it, but secondhand smoke is the worst trigger. The smoke is an irritant, but the stimulant effect of the tobacco increases the response of the lungs. That is the airways close more in response to the smoke. This is why an asthma inhaler contains a sedative. Thankyou to those who pushed tobacco smoke out of confined spaces, it allows other people to work and go about their day without the coughing and hypoxia.

[@yvonnefarrell1029]

Now we can turn our attention to banning the smoking of "recreational marijuana".

[@jordisaura6748]

I remember when my pediatrician used to smoke in his office. He did die of lung cancer...

[@michaelellringer5600]

And he could have died in a car accident.

[@unknown000001000]

I still have trauma from those years. All of my babysitters smoked and I was later scolded by my parents for refusing to go into a place that allowed smoking, even if they had a nonsmoking section. My concerns were disregarded for a good while until the momentum for smoking bans revved up enough that my local paper actually came out with a list of restaurants that had voluntarily gone smokefree... X(

[@texasbluebonnet4303]

I didn't Thank You way back then, but I am doing so now Robert! I have never been a cigarette smoker but I do recall people smoking cigarettes in the restaurants. It was awful. Thank You for caring about the smoke that was going into our lungs , making us sick!

[@jamesfneubauer884]

Your were the best labor Secretary ever and had the pleasure of having Lunch with you and Richard Acton in Cleveland, Ohio in 1994 and you told me when you started the job being 6'4" it wore you down to 5'4" ! 😊

[@EmeralBookwise]

There really should be more bans on public smoking. If people want to negatively impact their own health that's entirely their own business, but they should not be allowed to force those same risks on other people via secondhand exposure.

[@trishaeastman2414]

I remember that man occurring. One of our employees at the restaurant I worked at was stabbed because he asked the man to put out his cigarette or go outside.

[@littlebitofhope1489]

THANK YOU Mr. Reich.

[@stephanysmith5524]

Thank You!

[@FriendofMineralTown]

When I was growing up in the 90s I never imagined it would actually “go away”, the way it sort of has. In a couple cities near me you can’t smoke anywhere outdoors, technically. I’m not sure if they’d actually ticket you, but they have No Parking and No Smoking signs on the same pole.

[@b991228]

Yes! Change can be slow but also ultimately be fruitful. Thanks.

[@kurtsoothesayer1208]

I always hated going places where people smoked indoors. Whats crazy to me is how many adults just didn't care about others health. Especially the kids health.

[@danielgouge4639]

I am grateful that smoking was banned in a lot of public places in 2000 when I became a truck driver. I still remember some of the truck stops covered in smoke inside.

[@valerienewsome3019]

My father smoked 2-3 cartons of cigarettes a week when I was a child. I always had a "chest cold" and the doctor "solved" the problem by taking out my tonsils and adenoids when I was 7. BTW, the doctor was also a smoker. Smoking is not only dangerous, it is also selfish. My ex-husband of 37 years started smoking as a child. When we had our first child, I threw out his ashtrays and told him to smoke outside from now on. He is scheduled to have his esophagus removed on April 11 due to cancer. Prayers are welcomed.

[@brendanhoffmann8402]

About 15 years ago Australia put the price of cigarettes up to $50 a pack. This pays for health issues caused by smoking and acts as a deterrent. I was a very heavy smoker but couldn't afford to smoke anymore after the price increase. The other thing that the money goes towards is reducing the cost of nicotine replacement therapies such as gum and patches. In Australia not many people smoke anymore. It worked. Thanks Kevin Rudd!

[@EmperorNefarious1]

Great change, glad to have grown up without smoking in my schools.

[@leerussel2033]

I quit in 1980 Thank You for pointing me in the right direction

[@chernobyl169]

I was but 15 years old when tobacco was banned in places of business. Tobacco is awful stuff that should be much more tightly regulated. Cigarette smoke doesn't just stink - and boy does it! - but it also sticks to surfaces, permanently damaging ventilation equipment and wall paint. They say your right to swing your fist ends at my face, well your right to smoke ends at my lungs.

[@leonb2637]

One of the first places to ban smoking was on aircraft. That was from a bill sponsored by Sen. Lautenberg (D-NJ) in the 1980's with part of the goal to protect employee crews. Indeed states banning smoking in many places had been a very important benefit to many of us who don't smoke. Also some public places like public schools, hospitals, ban smoking at all on their properties, including outside them or in parking lots. There have been a few exemptions, in particular in casinos and some tobacco producing states.

[@janeblack5358]

If only we could extend that concern and improved outcomes for society as a whole to bolstering public health ,which has been crippled by the pandemic. Countries in which people still value protecting themselves and others for the common good (eg Japan, South Korea, Singapore, etc) have had a tenth of the adjusted death rate due to Covid for the population than the United States. The rights of the individual are precious, but need to take a back seat when it comes to public health, which requires a buy in ,such as happened with the successful smoking ban in public places. Thanks as always, R. Reich.

[@debbybolen]

thank you for doing this.

[@robbieg416]

Thank you, Mr. Reich.

[@cyberingcatgirls7069]

About 20 years ago when I lived in the midwest I had to take a cab to work while my car was in the shop. The driver was visibly pregnant and shortly after she picked me up she asked, "Do you mind if I smoke?" I responded, "I really wish you wouldn't." I'm sure she thought I meant for the duration of that ride. To this day I still wonder about that child's health.

[@angelikalindenau943]

You were a smart guy then, and subsequently added decades of experience and knowledge. Thanks for sharing your pearls of wisdom with us. Btw I live in Ireland where one politician with never-waving determination pursued unthinkable policy changes. First he managed to introduce a levy on plastic bags, then the smoking ban in workplaces (mental health facilities are iffy on that, pointing to undue hardship on the service users resulting from a complete ban), restaurants etc, and public transport. I despise his party but respect him for his tireless uphill struggle towards success.

[@onedroprule]

Thank you for your lifetime of work

[@kenbastian4258]

Mr. Reich is correct, we the people can change the way things are done! Fair wages, safe working environment, affordable housing, and honesty in the people that are elected, but we must speak out! Everyone deserves a chance to be given the same opportunity to achieve their dreams.

[@fritzforsthoefel8031]

What do you mean by fair wages do you think all workers should have a livable wage

[@kathrynjeffery2603]

Thank you for all you have done and are doing for our country.

[@cinnion]

Thank you for trying to get such a ban in place. Even with the bans we have been lucky enough to get enacted, I remember far too many times having to hold my breath and run the obstacle course of getting through all the smokers just outside the doors of the building (eww). Even with some of the restrictions including things like "no smoking within 25ft of an entrance", it was rarely enforced, and is rarely enforced at restaurants today, when those restrictions are far more widespread/commonplace. I just wish we could get such a ban in place federally nationwide (though I did see that WV has just become the 12th state to ban smoking in vehicles with children), and see those distances enforced (sadly, VA where I currently live has no such bans at all).

[@zman0729]

One of the reasons I quit going to the club. . . . To be clear, alcohol n cigarettes are like peanut butter & jelly. I still smoke today, however, I don't drink anywhere near as much or as often as I used to.

[@Revelwoodie]

I'm an ex-smoker, but I agree. Smoking and drinking go together. There should've been an exception for bars. I was still a smoker when they banned smoking in bars in my state, and I just stopped going to every bar but one -- the bar that let people take their drinks out back. No joke, there would be 5 or 6 people inside the bar on a Saturday night, and 100 outside. Smokers drink, and drinkers smoke. Oh, and that bar went out of business. Because most people were outside all night anyway, so they just started bringing their own booze. RIP.

[@jeanc819]

What you started back in 1994 was a public health revolution and for that, current and future generations will forever be grateful (and indebted) for that courageous stand!

[@gwillis01]

Thank you for an inspirational, informative video

[@georgepiet496]

Something Robert Reich got right a long long time ago. Being the humble man he is, he needs to keep reminding everyone.

[@NoName-ik2du]

I have a high intolerance to cigarette smoke. I remember as a kid how unbearable so many places were because smoking was allowed indoors. "Non-smoking" sections were a joke; it's all the same building! The ban on smoking in my state took effect before I entered the workforce, and thank god it did. There's no way I'd be able to work in an environment where smoking is allowed.

[@psannerud1]

Thank you - I was working assembling electrical control panels in a small fabrication place, and this made my work life much better! It didn't help the harassment from the male electricians, but at least I didn't have to take a shower when I got home, as if I'd been in a bar! Thank you!!

[@montecristo1845]

Everyone has the freedom to wave his/her arms about, but as soon as you collide with another individual, we have a problem.

[@timothywalker4563]

I was a child in the 70’s, smoking in restaurants on planes and hotels. I can’t stand cigarettes 🚬 it was just about everywhere. Believe it or not Ireland was the first European country to ban it and it started with the Pub’s. Yes it’s possible to ban it, but vapes are still bad 🤔

[@LillianArch]

2nd hand smoke harms kids and family members, too. The most successful promotion of an issue was when the CANCER LUNG was shown on TV and travelled across America visiting schools, community meetings etc. I forget what percentage of people quit smoking in the 5 years after that.

[@michaelellringer5600]

Driving/owning a car is also a very dangerous addiction to have. How about photo's of those that were mangled in car wrecks?

[@facitenonvictimarum174]

Yep, staying relevant as we grow old is very difficult, especially when younger people have no idea who you were nor any knowledge of history. Each generation believes the world was created when they were born. Sad really for people who worked so hard.

[@ExpDevourer]

I had no idea that was you who proposed that. Grazie Mr. Reich grazie.

[@ZaneDaMagicPufferDragon]

Regulations are Lifesavers!!!!

[@michaelellringer5600]

But it won't save you from dying in a car accident, a dangerous habit shared by millions, owning/driving a car.

[@ernestdunphy7027]

As a famous quote goes....the direction of the mind is more important than the progress

[@jasondoust4935]

Smoking is a truly inconsiderate pastime, and sometimes we have to regulate because people don't do the right thing. I was an Australian living in Indianapolis in 1992 when progressive business operators started banning smoking in their workplaces. It was really great to go to a bowling centre that didn't stink of cigarette butts, and in sure that many parents thought so too. A few years later it became law in Australia, as a health and safety regulation.

[@tweaquie]

I quit smoking over 34 years ago, and I would never ever ever go into a place where there is smoking. I can breathe freely now and my lungs are most likely clear. I remember when I was in college my first year. I was still smoking. I thought it was cool and I thought it was my right to smoke. However, there was friend in back of me in the café, Who started coughing and couldn’t stop. The same thing happened to me years later when I was at an Outdoor concert in the park. Evidently somebody was smoking in back of me and I could not stop coughing. I guess it’s true what they say what goes around comes around thank you Mr. Reich.

[@KevinThomas-ok2ev]

It WAS your right to smoke. Not very bright, but be careful about so casually tossing away your rights to an all-powerful government. People have every right to be dumb, and the government has no business protecting people from themselves.

[@susanworden6459]

Thank you. I worked in a disgusting smoking office.