Free Republic

For the past several decades, governments have been cracking down on tobacco consumption, including by banning smoking in many places such as bars or restaurants. But we've learned a lot about the effects of these kinds of policies over the last few years and now it's time to reconsider them. Here's why: 1. Property Rights Most fundamentally, the debate about smoking bans should center on private property rights. Whether you should be allowed to smoke in a bar should be determined by the owner of that bar, not by busybody bureaucrats who think they know how to live everyone’s lives...

RALEIGH – Emergency room visits by North Carolinians experiencing heart attacks have declined by 21 percent since the January 2010 start of the state’s Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law. State Health Director Dr. Jeffrey Engel reported the results to the Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force this morning. “We pushed for passage of this law because we knew it would save lives,” said Governor Bev Perdue, who signed the law into effect. “Our goal was to protect workers and patrons from breathing secondhand smoke and we are seeing positive results.” The N.C. Division of Public Health report cites...

As Montana bars dealt with their first smoke-free weekend since the state’s indoor smoking ban went into effect, ingenuity ruled. In Missoula, according to a great piece by Michael Moore in the Missoulian, the Rhino Bar gave smokers their very own place to light up: a Butt Hutt, created by Dave Golden of Well Done Welding and Jim Bell, a general contractor. Moore describes the hut as a 4-by-8-foot “metal smoking dugout” in the alley behind the Rhino in Missoula. The no-smoking laws spark the type of debate that never seems to get extinguished. Pro-smokers argue that the bans hurt...

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Residents awoke to smoke-free sky Friday as officials announced they had turned the corner in fighting a wildfire that destroyed 254 buildings and threatened thousands more in this resort community. After a second straight day of mild winds allowed firefighters to surround the blaze, U.S. Forest Service commanders said they planned to reduce their force by one-fourth and allow residents to inspect the wreckage for the first time. "Firefighters came in this morning and felt even more comfortable about the approaching containment of this fire," incident commander Rich Hawkins said. "I'm feeling pretty good about...

A smoke-free, family-friendly atmosphere of moralistic intolerance Because it's getting hard to keep track of all the places where you're not allowed to smoke, the city council of Calabasas, California, decided to start over from scratch and make things simple. "Smoking is prohibited everywhere in the city," says a Calabasas ordinance that takes effect on March 17, "except as otherwise provided." The exceptions are private residences, up to 20 percent of hotel rooms, "smokers' outposts" in shopping center parking lots, and "any outdoor area in which no non-smoker is present and...it is not reasonable to expect another person to arrive."...

This sets him apart from virtually all politicians in the world. They want the public to believe the baloney they serve night and day, but they'd fear for their sanity if they believed it.Bloomberg believes everything he says as the mayor of New York. He can deliver a whopper that would make a rabbit hug a hound and walk off the stage convinced that he told the truth, the only truth, never imagining that anyone with any sense could contest it.Just the other day, he announced that the Republican convention netted the city $255 million. Netted means after costs. Before...

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. - From New York to California, small and mid-size hotels have gone smoke-free, cleaning, deodorizing and redecorating rooms once reserved for smokers and designating them nonsmoking. One major reason is that fewer guests are requesting smoking rooms. But hotel managers point to other benefits: lower room maintenance costs and a marketing tool at a time when the business has been hurt by a sluggish economy. "In all of our publications, we promote a smoke-free environment, and we've gotten calls because of it. Families with kids, it's attractive to them. It reinforces cleanliness and safety," said Chris Canavos,...

Bar and restaurant employes are forced to inhale tobacco smoke every day to keep their jobs. According to studies by the city Health Department, secondhand smoke kills more than 1,000 New Yorkers each year. A smoky bar can have 40 times more air pollution than the Holland Tunnel at rush hour. Today, the City Council will hear testimony on Mayor Bloomberg's proposal to make all city workplaces smoke-free. Testimony supporting the bill, much like letters sent through smokefree.org to public officials, will make it clear that the health of bar and restaurant employees is just as important as the health...

The few remaining outposts of smoking in public indoor spaces in New York City, such as small restaurants and bars, will soon be smoke-free — if Mayor Michael Bloomberg has his way, and it seems that he will. While most of the workers in these establishments and their nonsmoking customers breathe a sigh of relief, smokers find their universe shrinking yet again. The law, if passed by the City Council, will put the city alongside California and Delaware as the nation's most unaccommodating places for smoking. Closing a major loophole in the city's anti-smoking law, the mayor has framed the...

Plan targets restaurant smoke in Dallas 08/07/2002 By VICTORIA LOE HICKS / The Dallas Morning News Nonsmoking sections in Dallas restaurants would have to be smoke-free under a proposal before the City Council. The measure, drawn up by the city's Environmental Health Commission and presented Tuesday to a council committee, would require restaurants to prevent any smoke from wafting into dining areas designated as nonsmoking. The law would leave it to restaurant owners to determine how to meet the requirement. The choice of building partitions or installing special ventilation systems would be left to each owner. "This is a...