Comments on: Smoking Ban Might Extinguish Hookah Bars

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:01:52 +0000

I’m glad they are finally passing a bill to protect people who dont smoke. Bottom line. Tobacco is only legal in the first place because its a cash crop. Now that its importance is no longer what it used to be, they can finally pass laws to protect peoples health, instead of just protecting income interests. Good riddance I say.

By: annon

annon — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:12:41 +0000

I agree 100% with Thomas L.!
Th ban on smoking in bars and “public places” should be solely the owners and the patrons decision. Who is the government to tell us weather we can or cannot smoke? I do not necessarily believe in smoking cigars or cigarettes, but i will not be the first one to tell someone who does they cannot do it and neither should the government. If someone wants to risk their health on smoking that is there choice, but the government should not try to ban smoking bars because THEY think it is “un-safe” or “un-healthy” to the public. If it is so bad why don’t they just pass a bill to ban tobacco all together? and if someone is to complain that they don’t like the smoking, then they shouldn’t be in the establishment in the first place. Making the law that someone smoking has to be “100 feet” from the entrance serves no different to help someone avoid the second hand smoke. They still will smell it and inhale it while they are walking in. All in all i don’t believe this smoking ban is at all necessary and the people who complain need to just go somewhere else.

By: Virginia Smoking Ban « Upset Patterns

Virginia Smoking Ban « Upset Patterns — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:30:37 +0000

[...] Jerome under Uncategorized Leave a Comment A smoking ban went into effect today in Virginia. Even in hookah bars, I kid you not. I’d love to hear an argument in favor of that that does not wreak of [...]

By: KevinM

KevinM — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:22:18 +0000

Its is obvious the anti autonomy shills are well represented here and seeking to provoke the worst intentions among us. Tobacco taxes and the bans are an example of very poor moral integrity at work in the legislatures. Using a moralist stick to “Help someone quit smoking” is thin at best and certainly not the act of kindness that sold it. It is all about the money. Targeting the addicted, to serve the needs of the majority who don’t smoke is unforgivable. It is not much wonder normally law abiding and honest individuals are doing their duty by ignoring these foolish laws. The only risk in play here; would be to the most extreme levels in extreme durations, meaning a minor increased risk to a bartender 24-7 over a 50 year span. The general public by normal exposure is not at increased risk, or could they ever be considering the ingredients and the quantities. Cigarette taxes are regressive they target the poor and minorities the hardest. The Bans are promoted hate, much more than inclusive neighborly attitudes protected by a sign, promoting choice which was all that was ever required.

By: Austin

Austin — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:28:51 +0000

For normal establishments this ban makes perfect sense and I totally agree with it. I hate sitting in a restaurant in a “non-smoking” section that is five feet away from ten people smoking.
That’s annoying.
But for a hookah BAR? People do not go to hookah bars and ask for the non smoking section.
I don’t enjoy hookah bars for very long because I don’t like the smoke, but if people want a place basically designated for doing just that, then I think they should be able to have it.

I guess that although I agree with this ban, I just don’t agree with it in its entirety.

By: Thomas L

Thomas L — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:29:00 +0000

The bandwagon of local smoking bans now steamrolling across the nation has
nothing to do with protecting people from the supposed threat of
“second-hand” smoke.

Indeed, the bans themselves are symptoms of a far more grievous threat, a
cancer that has been spreading for decades throughout the body politic. This
cancer is the only real hazard involved – the cancer of unlimited government
power.

Loudly billed as measures that only affect “public places,” smoking bans
have actually targeted many privately owned places such as bars and shops –
places whose owners should be free to ban smoking or not and whose customers
are free to patronize or not. Outdoor bans even harass smokers in places
where others’ health is obviously not the issue.

The decision to smoke or to avoid “second-hand” smoke, is a question for
each individual to answer based on his own values and judgment. This is the
same kind of decision free people make regarding every aspect of their
lives. All lifestyle decisions involve risks; some have demonstrably harmful
consequences; many are controversial and invite disapproval from others. but
the individual must be free to make these decisions. He must be free,
because his life belongs to him, not to others, and only his own judgment
can guide him through it.

Yet when it comes to smoking this freedom of choice for a minority, is being
seriously limited by a majority made baselessly fearful through massive
media campaigns often funded by tax dollars.

The real threat we face here, no matter how strongly it is denied by the
anti-smoking lobby, is the systematic and unlimited intrusion of government
into our lives.

We do not elect officials to control and manipulate our behaviour. They are
in office to serve us, not vise versa.

By: April

April — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 14:42:39 +0000

What do you care about hookah bars, Trevor?

By: April

April — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:30:28 +0000

I thought that bill had been weakened so that they could simply ban children in their establishments and keep on smokin’.