Butts Out
The process started a couple of years ago: make the city of Columbus smoke-free. After lots of legislating, bickering, and infighting, a final version of a non-smoking ordinance was passed six months ago. And tomorrow, Feb. 1, it goes into effect.
The basic gist of this: all public places in the city are now required to be smoke free. There is an exclusion for bars and private clubs, something which was not in the original form or intent of the ordinance but was necessary in order to get it passed through the city council.
As you can imagine there are people who are very happy about this, and some who are very mad. Not everyone who is mad is a smoker - some see it as government intrusion into a part of life where it doesn’t belong. “Don’t go to restaurants that having smoking sections if you don’t like it” they say. And they have a good point. Smoking is legal.
Advocates against public smoking say that it’s going to help the overall health of the city, make destinations more attractive to go, and drive up business for people who wouldn’t have otherwise gone to places that had smoking before.
There are two local resturant owners who are claiming quite loudly that they are NOT going to go smoke free, and that they will take the fines ($50 a pop, with no maximum limit) and challenge the government on the legality of the order. One of these restaurants is advertising that they are now a “private club”, with membership open to anyone who wants to sign a small piece of paper. They’re trying to skirt the system, and it’s a bit amusing to see. The other restaurant says that they’re just going to defy the order, and they encourage smokers to come and hang out at their place to do so.
A couple of other places in town, local smoky dives, have already gone smoke free and seem to be doing okay. Most surprising to me was a newspaper article talking about the impact this is having on non-eatery business. A couple of local manufacturing plants still have smoking areas inside of their facilities (which they’ll now have to get rid of). They’re complaining that by having to move their smoke zones outside, it will hurt productivity as workers have to walk further away and back during their breaks. Other small business owners who DO smoke and allow smoking in their buildings seem to also be unhappy that now their smoke shops are going to have to be moved outside.
I’m a non-smoker, but I’ll tell you what I think. I think that the smokers who think this is a bit insane do have a bit of a point. I agree that it seems the legislation is a bit overreaching. However, I’ll add a caveat:
I think that people who choose to smoke and don’t like rules surrounding where you can do it, should sign waivers stating that they relinquish all rights to government assisted health care. A recent estimate showed that smoking related illness costs the state around $3.5 billion dollars a year. That’s my tax dollars being used to assist people who CHOOSE to smoke.
Yeah yeah, smoking is hard to quit doing. That’s not the issue. The issue is that if Columbus is going to be smoke free, and as a smoker you don’t like that notion, then I feel that you should have to give up something in return. Giving up TAX money used to pay for your lengthy hospital stay seems to make the most sense to me. I’ll be happy to leave the smoking sections in at your favorite restaurants, as long as I don’t have to pay for your health care bills.
Ahh, the smell of controversy. At least it smells better than cigarette smoke.
January 31st, 2006 at 10:34 am
I don’t smoke, but I think that it should be up to companies to determine their own smoking policy. Free market and whatnot.
PS - when I hear a bar is non-smoking, it’s attractiveness goes ++.
January 31st, 2006 at 10:35 am
Actually, it’s not _that_ hard to quit. I did it about three weeks ago. The first few days it was hard, but it got better quite fast. I still want to have a smoke every now and then, but I’m able to keep myself under control.
January 31st, 2006 at 10:45 am
Celeb for president
January 31st, 2006 at 11:30 am
about your caveat: this is a great illustration of why there should be no such thing as “government-assisted healthcare.”
look at viv. she’s a vegetarian, eats mostly organic foods, and exercises daily. should SHE have to pay to fund healthcare for someone like myself who CHOOSES to eat a diet of red meat, salt, and beer?
the fact of the matter is, each person should have control over what their money is used for. the best way to do this is to let them keep it.
January 31st, 2006 at 11:57 am
Why can’t we just have smoking places? There’s this deli next door to my place where you can buy some food/soda and smoke a Hookah. Seems like there’s a better atmosphere there (no pun intended) as smoking is seen as a special activity.
January 31st, 2006 at 12:00 pm
pm - where do you live?
January 31st, 2006 at 12:26 pm
pm: that would be fine with me. Maybe have a smoking license, like a liquor license, and use the money from that to pay for smoking related things (cessation classes and whatnot).
January 31st, 2006 at 10:20 pm
I live in the fairly liberal Portland Metro area, Oregon.
Yeah I was doing a little more thinking about this throughout the day. It seems like insurance companies already handle smoking pretty well, that they factor in the risk and increase your rates accordingly. Still you have the problem of second hand smoke, which is why it would be nice to have designated smoking areas. There’s a couple bars in town here that have special rooms just for the smokers and they have to bring their own drinks in from the bar. Personally I think the invention of the cigarette was a horrible idea. Instead of sitting in one place and smoking a significant amount of tobacco which would satisfy you for a while, people are now walking all over the place smoking all the time.
February 1st, 2006 at 7:58 am
I want to try and maintain some rights for smokers, but I think we should also help encourage people to quit. Some people are just never going to quit, and they’ll be quite vocal about being forced to. And that’s okay, it’s their choice.
One of the biggest arguments about smoking is that people say “if you don’t like it, don’t be around it”. You know, like you shouldn’t go to places where they allow smoking if you don’t like it. That’s a valid argument, except…
One time when the wife and I were driving last summer, we got caught at a red light right next to a guy in a convertable who was smoking. My windows where down, and sure enough his smoke filled the air. It was only for a minute or so, but I still was forced to breathe it. There wasn’t anything I could do - roll up my windows, I suppose, but it would have still come in the AC ducts. So I was pretty powerless there, and yet I was force to breathe his smoke.
I guess I was most surprised at the local non-food related business reaction. Our company makes smokers go outside and walk a significant distance away from the building. But some places still had rooms inside where people could smoke. I guess I had thought that was a thing of the past. It is now, but they’re not happy to oblige it seems.
February 1st, 2006 at 9:47 am
i think a lot of business owners that are for the law, like it because then they don’t have to be the asshole that says no smoking, and they don’t have to lose business because of it.
i think there are certain places smoking shouldn’t be allowed (daycares, schools, etc.). i think having a smoking section is retarded. at the very least it should be a separate room with a doorway, if not a closed door separating it. i think it’s stupid to say that waiters and whatnot that have no choice when there’s smoking…they could tell their boss they’re going to quit if they don’t ban smoking. they could find a job where there is no smoking allowed, etc.
i think people should be fined heavily, and possibly executed for throwing cigarrette butts on the ground/out their car window.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:19 am
I used to not care about the cigarette butt out the window deal, but m3 enlightened me on the issue. I still don’t give a shit, but now I know it’s not biodegradable like I used to believe.
Smokers in our current building go out back on the old loading dock.
Some buildings have these greenhouse looking deals outside where people can go to smoke.
The other building I’m working in has an honest to god smoking lounge. Very old school.
And speaking of old schools. My hike school had a smoking lounge where students could go to smoke. This was only stopped right around the tim I was in middle school. Then it went from permitted in school one year to completely banned on the campus the next year with infractions leading to suspension.
crazy
February 1st, 2006 at 3:57 pm
were teachers still allowed to smoke in there?
i hate people that throw butts out the window mostly because when you’re on a bike behind them and get showered in sparks, or worse, get hit, it really fucking sucks. i’m also not a big fan of litterers…those fuckers wouldn’t just throw the shit out in their yard, and if they would, then why don’t they wait til they get home?
February 2nd, 2006 at 11:57 am
If smoking is so bad, why don’t we just make it illegal. Especially if its so bad for even non smokers?
Ps. Boston has no smooking in public and its nice because you don’t leave the bars smelling like an ash tray. Wouldn’t it be great if there just wasn’t smoking at all?
Is it a health hazard or is the government trying to impliment social reform because it is what a few people at the top have deemed as bad?
I think thats the real question.
Pss. have fun in florida.
February 6th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
we don’t make it illegal because this is not a communist country. just because something is bad for you, doesn’t mean it should be illegal. sure it would be great to have no smoking…for nonsmokers. i think smokers would have a different opinion.