Okay, as a smoker (who wants to quit, BTW) I have a few takes on this smoking ban here in WA.
At first, I was mightly pissed about the whole thing, but not just because I couldn't light up while playing anymore. The majority of patrons in this part of the state are smokers, sad but true. I guess my basic contention was the state telling a business owner, who had to pony up his own money to start and maintain his business, that he could no longer allow smoking. This is above and beyond the state levying a huge tax on cigarettes, with the average cost now at 5.50-6.00 a pack. It has had a great effect on business in these establishments here. Business in down enough that other businesses are suffering...a fallout effect, so to speak. I know a guy who runs his own karaoke business, and he is now losing nights at these establishments because there is no longer the business to support his being there. He used to be very busy on Wednesday nights, and now his Wednesday nights are gone, and he is in danger of losing his Fridays as well. Some of the local pool leagues are beginning to suffer as well, as many players are dropping out because they cannot smoke while playing.
I agree, that these places can become very smokey, even makes my eyes burn sometimes. There are a couple of places that have Smoke-Eaters, which due a great job at eliminating smoke, when there are enough of them to cover the proper square footage of the estalishment. Problem is, there is usually only one in any given establishment, and it is not enough.
Some of these establishments have decided to allow smoking on nights and weekends, when the Health Dept is inactive. They decided that the fine incurred was alot less money than the amount of money they were losing due to lack of business.
Me....well, I am certainly not smoking as much...which is cool. Captaining one team, which requires me to watch the games for fouls, and playing on another, 9 Ball, where the games go very fast....just doesn't leave a whole lot of time to get a smoke in. Throw in inclement weather (wind and rain), and well, I am lucky to get half a cig in when I do step out. Before the ban, I was smoking WAY too much. Now, if I could only kick them altogether, I would be happy.
You got to blame our forefathers for this whole smoking thing to begin with. They would likely be rolling over in their graves if they knew that smoking was now a bad thing in this country. It was them that insisted on tobacco being the 'cash crop' of this great country of ours. All save one.....good ol' George Washington. Now George wasn't down with the whole tobacco thing. He had another 'cash crop' for this country in mind. He grew it at Mt Vernon, and really pushed for it in the Contintental Congress, but to no avail. That 'cash crop' was hemp, because of all of the by-products that could be derived from it. Infinitely more profitable than tobacco, which is limited in it's uses. Just think where this country would be right now had George gotten his way?!!!
So while I still think that the smoking ban here has some issues with business owners rights, it doesn't bother me anymore, as I am definitely smoking less, which will make it easier for me to quit, probably very soon, 'cause quite frankly, I'm sick of the damn things!!!!
Lisa
I like the man's logic.
