We have an anti-smoking law here in Indy that doesn't allow smoking in restaurants, the airport, and some other public places. People who are against this law say that their smoking is a personal choice and it doesn't hurt anyone else so it shouldn't be the business of anyone else. They say if you don't want to be around smoke, then don't go to businesses that allow smoking.

This is always going to be a hot-button issue between smokers and non-smokers. My question is, does smoking really only hurt smokers?

We know that the children and spouses of smokers have more health problems than the children and spouses of non-smokers because of second-hand smoke. I had a friend that had the lungs of a 75-year-old chain smoker when she was in her teens because both of her parents smoked around her so much. Her doctor called her a liar when she said she didn't smoke. She had some serious health complications from second hand smoke.

We know that discarded cigarette butts are one of the most common forms of pollution in the world. Cigarette filters are designed to trap some of the toxic chemicals in tobacco so they don't enter your body. These chemicals stay in the filters until the discarded cigarette butts get washed into water supplies and pollute them.

We know that cigarettes, currently smoked daily by over a billion people in the world, are a cause of air pollution.

We know that many of the people who smoke can't afford their own medical bills and become a tax burden on the rest of us.

So does smoking only hurt smokers? The evidence would seem to show that it hurts everyone, but I'd be interested to hear the other side of the debate.