Smoking was not allowed at my school in the 70's, getting caught with cigarettes meant a 1 day suspension. However, students would stand across the street and smoke in plain view of faculty members without getting in trouble. Teachers, could smoke in their lounge.
That was a big difference between high school and college. In high school, you could be suspended from football for being caught taking a smoke. In college, half the people in class were smoking during the lecture, and the auditoriums had ashtrays built into the seat backs.
I even remember once in college P.E. we had to run laps in a gym, and on one side the track ran behind a set of bleachers. There would always be a half dozen guys running who would take a smoke break under the bleachers. The instructor never seemed to mind.
No matter how you feel about smoking, that's an example of how personal liberties are chipped away incrementally over a long period of time.
Every little bit, that seems inconsequential or even a good idea at the time, can never be regained, and adds up eventually to a lot.
