13 states have already imposed public smoking bans. =\
I personally believe that you should be allowed to smoke almost anywhere with the obvious exceptions being hospitals and such. But they are banning smoking in public places and getting caught often means a hefty fine.
They are also calling "bars" public places. Bars are not public places in the legal sense. Bars are privately run businesses and they should be able to conduct their operations as they please.
Why ban smoking in bars? If there was really an uproar about smoking in bars wouldn't some non-smoking bars have opened up to accomodate the non-smoking population? It is a free market ya know!
Most people like to argue the second hand smoke point. But there hasn't been any (accurate) study on the effects of second hand smoke. Exposing yourself to second hand smoke for a few hours twice a week isn't that bad either. Constant exposure to poisons such as smoke would be harmful but in reality you probably aren't inhaling a full cigarettes worth of smoke on any given night in a bar. I'd say the only people who could use this argument are maybe the employees of the bar who may spend 40 hours a week inside such an establishment.
And outside too? Holy fuck! I highly doubt smoking outside affects that many people with the amount of cars zooming by you every day. Is it that hard to ask a smoker to not smoke around you when you're at the bus stop or where ever? I've never seen a smoker tell someone to shove it when they've been asked politely smoke somewhere else. You only need move a few feet away.
Smokers are getting the short end of the stick with these bans. In my smoking days I would go outside since the bar never provided a smoking area (there was an area provided but you weren't allowed to be in it unless you were gambling) and often times I wouldn't be let back in. Smokers were told to go outside but unless you were a girl there was a 1% chance of getting back in. Even if they do let you back in often they would try to charge you the cover charge as well.
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Originally Posted by -=|TumTum|=-
