I agree that smoking is a choice but should be considered with great caution when it will negatively effect those around you. Don't get me wrong, I'm 100% against laws that protect you from yourself, I feel they are a waste of legislation time and the freedom of the people. I do disagree with smoking indoors though.
I live in MN where just a year and a half ago the state went 100% smokefree in all indoor workplaces. The facts are in and solid. They did testing on workers in bowling alleys restaurants and bars where smokign was allowed and the workers there who didn't smoke had high levels of the chemicals found in smoking in their blood. They survey'd the same people one year after the smoking ban and it had almost completely removed the chemicals from their bodies. Smoking bans help save lives!
For those of you who believe smoking bans cause people to lose your businesses, I challenge you to do research on this and cite specific bars and states where smoking bans have caused them to lose their business. I'm willing to bet that in each (if any) case you find there are other underlying factors that have caused them to lose their business. California and many other state who implemented smoke free workplace legislation have shown a short decrease in bar revenue, but within 6 months the numbers have returned to their normal level, if not increased. In MN many bars have closed since the advent of the smoking ban, but if you look at the economy, the smoking ban came at the same time as the economy started to fall out. The economy and people moving towards a more freugal life style closed the bars, not the smokers inability to smoke indoors.
If you havent' figured it out by now, I work very closely with the "freedom to breathe" MN's smoking ban. Before you jump on my back, I feel its necessary to disclose that I am a smoker. I've been smoking for years, and it hasn't bothered me.
I'm all on board with those of you who are saying, its a fact and deal with it...change isn't always a bad thing, if you don't like what your legislators are doing, write them and tell them! They won't know how you feel unless you tell them!
Thanks for reading!
have a good day
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