Here in Minnesota, a statewide ban on almost all indoor smoking went into effect on Monday, Oct. 1, 2007. Bars and restaurants where smokers once puffed away, filling their stomachs with fried food and their lungs with nicotine, now have to take their nasty-ass habit outside.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that…
The ban promises to change the way many Minnesotans socialize and how local businesses operate, especially in border towns, where nonsmoking and smoking bars may soon be almost close enough for secondhand smoke to drift from one to the other.
Some fear that patrons who don’t cross state lines might jump ship to casinos on Indian reservations, where smoking will be allowed, while others may simply drink and smoke in their own homes.
Bracing for the ban, bar owners have been making last-minute trips to home improvement stores to pick up extra propane heaters. Outdoor areas, where smoking is permitted, have been added in many places.
“They’re doing patios, outdoor facilities to try and make their customers have a spot to have a cigarette so they don’t have to get in a car and leave,” said Kenn Rockler, of the Minnesota Tavern League.
I love the line that states, “some may simply smoke at home.” Duhhhhhh. And thank God the restaurant and bar owners are making accommodations for those with a smoking habit. I just love the site of shivering puffers as they stand outside on a January night next to a propane patio heater … smoking a heater. Many bar owners feel they would otherwise go out of business if they don’t offer options – especially with all the lure of TV trays and smokeless ashtrays sitting close to the Lazy Boy.
The ban is the result of Minnesota’s Freedom to Breathe Act (gasp – I’ve been holding my breath since 1999, when I first moved to the state). Finally! As a citizen of the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I’m protected from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
Of course, if I’m a bar owner just over state lines in Iowa, Wisconsin or either Dakota Territory, I’m thinking my ship has just arrived. Bar revenues will likely increase by 1 percent as smokers in Minnesota hop in the car or hitch to those states still living in the cigarette liberation age of 2006 – long before freedom to breathe acts were passed.
So progressive we are here in the North Country!
-end-
Right, it’s about time!
And I think it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing smoking restrictions in the bordering states as well.
I know how you feel. Hate the shit.
I wish someone would open a smoke free casino.
Now ask me again when I’m drunk lol
However, let’s say I buy a building. Okay. That’s my property– I can smoke inside it if I want, or not if I find it unpleasant. If I invite people over, I can allow them to smoke inside if I want,or not if I choose not to. I have the right to do this, yes? If I invite a mixture of smoking and non-smoking friends and say, “Smoking is allowed inside,” the people that don’t like it can enjoy my company at another time, when smoking isn’t around, and go find something else fun to do.
Why does this right simply go away when I decide to turn said property into a business? It’s still my property. I still make the rules, within reason. I think that if the majority finds smoke in bars and restaurants so abhorrent, they will leave, thus forcing me as a hypothetical business owner to re-think this particular rule. If, however, I find that my clientele keeps coming back because, as opposed to in spite of, my smoking policies, I should be able to keep my current smoking policy in effect.
If the majority of the public finds smoking this bothersome and acts accordingly, business will follow suit by changing their policies to maintain profitable. It seems to me that a law is not needed, nor is it terribly fair to business owners.
Kristen, the Minnesota law was explicitly intended to protect employees; that is, (potential) employees have the right to a safe working environment. A broader ethical principle is that consumers can expect to have a clean environment with the air reasonably free from toxins and carcinogens.
There is no such protection, however, for those that choose to associate with you.
“There is no such protection, however, for those that choose to associate with you.”
I never said I was a smoker. My comment wasn’t intended as a defense for smoking as a practice in general; it’s an unhealthy habit that will most likely lead to cancer, not to mention a host of other health problems. My feeling is that business owners should have the right to make decisions regarding the consumption/use of legal substances on their own property.