They just banned smoking in Colorado

[Roon]

Colorado likely will be smoke- free starting July 1.The Senate voted 19 to 15 Thursday for a bill that would ban smoking statewide in bars, restaurants and most workplaces, with only a few exemptions, including casinos.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11874991/

I'm an ex-smoker, I have mixed feelings about all of this. The bars are really going to suffer.

[eyesroll]

1. From what I understand, bars don't suffer if the ban is statewide

Because then, people who want to go out won't have the choice...and eventually, they do. And the nonsmokers who've been staying out of bars come out of the woodwork, too.

If it's just city-by-city, then places suffer, because then it's only a short drive to another city.

[rbnyc]

7. Good point.

Most people know I have strong feelings on this issue, anyway, but I just spent a long weekend with my dad, who smokes so much! I'm actually still sick from it and I've been home for 4 days. His cough is terrible. He's not going to live to see his grandson grow up.

Anyway, it's his home, so it's his choice. And he did smoke in the other room by an open window while my son was awake.

But anywhere where people are employed, there should be no smoking (or toxic emissions of any kind.)

[LynneSin]

23. For a state like Colorado -sure

You guys have Counties probably bigger than our state of Delaware. But it all works itself out now. I love it here in Delaware

[Redstone]

27. They did in our town. We had five three years ago, now two.

Redstone

[AllegroRondo]

40. There was no effect in my city

two St Louis suburbs banned smoking in restaurants, but saw no effect on their sales. the effect of smokers going to other places was offset by non-smokers coming in who had avoided them before the ban.

but this ban did not include bars, or any place that made more than 60% of its profits from alcohol sales.

[rbnyc]

2. Woo-Hoo!

It's a worker health and safety issue. There should be no exemptions for anywhere people are employed. But it's a good start.

:popcorn:

[RebelOne]

3. I have a feeling that the bars will suffer

because there are some people that only smoke when they drink.

[Kingshakabobo]

57. I don't by the "bars will suffer" stuff.

I know people who only smoke when they drink but I don't know anyone who only drinks when they smoke. Most of my friends that smoke know it's a stupid habit and wish they never started. I don't imagine people are going to penalize themselves more by, all of the sudden, becoming hermits because they can't smoke in a bar. People go out to socialize, listen to music, dance AND DRINK. I can't imagine THAT many people will stay home when they can, just as easily, enjoy all the other things the bar-life has to offer while stepping outside for that much needed nicotine fix.

I could be wrong. I sure would like to see a real study on the matter.

[Arugula Latte]

58. It might be offset by those of us who avoid smoking places

E.g. there is a restaurant I won't frequent because the smoke from the bar wafts into the restaurant part. Dunno for sure, though.

[SteppingRazor]

4. To quote Hunter Thompson...

when he was harassed on a plane for smoking:

"You fucking Body Nazis have had your way long enough!" :evilgrin:

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Oboy! A smoking thread!

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Heidi]

10. This thread is now luv-jacked.

:hi: :hug:

;)

[rockymountaindem]

25. WHAT!!! What did I say about that guy!!!

Your days are numbered, popcorn man!

I'm gonna heckle him everywhere I go until I come up with a better solution. I'm especially going to heckle him when I see him posted by someone who posted in my thread on the matter.

Are you rueing the day, yet, popcorn man?

[Heidi]

34. This isn't popcorn man, but it's just for you.

[rockymountaindem]

35. Ok, fine. I'm cool.

Don't worry 'bout me, popcorn man. I'll overlook this trickery. Don't worry. You certainly don't need to be looking over your shoulder all the time, no sir... popcorn man...

[Debo]

6. no smorking!

They can't make it illegal because there would be a huge backlash so they ban it everywhere instead. You can still smoke all you want just not here, here, or here. And over there.

[LoZoccolo]

52. They can't make it illegal because no one wants it to be illegal.

Even the people banning it in workplaces. What's your point?

[Heidi]

8. They didn't ban smoking.

Can't people still smoke in their homes, their cars, their yards, on public streets and outside of public buildings?

I'm a smoker, but I don't feel entitled to smoke around non-smokers. Even in restaurants and outdoor cafes here where smoking is permitted, I always "ask around" before I light up. I've a brother with serious asthma, and I know that it's _not_ all about _me_ and my addiction.

[rbnyc]

11. You are cool!

Thanks. Your attitude is awesome.

[Heidi]

33. In a way, my attitude is self-serving.

I love my little brother with my whole heart and it's through him that I learned that the universe does _not_ revolve around me. Thank you for your kind words, though, gf. :pals:

[Gormy Cuss]

9. If it's any consolation, in other states it sorted out after a while

for the bars. It turns out it's a boon for restaurants and a mixed bag for bars. The first few months are a serious adjustment period and some bars do go under but I've lived in three states with smoking bans and finding a bar isn't hard in any of them.

The bartender in my family, a smoker himself who works in a neighborhood bar, said at his place it was rough the first winter but eventually the customers either get used to it or stop showing up, with most in the former category because it's their watering hole.

[Crazy Dave]

12. Don't know about stuff like this

I'm always very reluctant to take others rights away from them so it pleases me. I'd rather compromise and adapt with others rather than getting the government to take away their rights myself. You keep giving the government more and more power to take away rights from a certain group, then another, then another, etc. then you're next. Who or what was the story where the guy says the gestapo took away all these different groups of people, one different group at a time, they cried for help, he ignored them, when the gestapo finally came for him and he cried for help, everyone was already gone. Something like that. Cars pollute, make cars against the law, breathing creates carbon monoxide so stop breathing immediately.

[rbnyc]

16. Well, there are regulations for emissions from cars...

...though they should be higher, and would be if not for...

There should be better environmental protections in general. It's sad that it's easier to go after individuals than after big moneyed interests.

Still, smoking in public is a public health issue, and smoking where people are employed is a workers health and safety issue, and comparing a person's "right" to smoke to a person's right to exist if they are jewish or homosexual is kind of, well, inappropriate.

[Crazy Dave]

19. inappropriate

That's your opinion. I'm not the one that decides what is a right and what isn't. A person may feel as strongly about his habit as a person is about their religion. Selectiveness is inappropriate in my opinion. I'm not like that. Your right to do whatever could be just as important to you as my right to whatever and it's not up to me or you to define what is or isn't or what one person deserves or doesn't.

Just my opinion. That is if I'm still entitled or have the right to have to have one.

[rbnyc]

28. Well, in this country, a person has a right to worship as they please...

...but they don't have the right to use public or government resources to push their religious views on others. Under smoking bans, people still have the right to smoke, just not where people have to be exposed to it in order to make a living.

[Ravenseye]

29. It's a safety issue

So what about people like Coal Miners? Things are far better for them now than before, but it's still dangerous. There are plenty of jobs which are inherently danagerous to do them. Garbage collection. Drillers. Anyone working with explosives.

Why can't second hand smoke be a valid safety concern for a bartender. If you don't want to risk falling 500 feet you don't become a high steel worker. If you don't want to risk exposure to second hand smoke, you don't become a bartender.

I just don't like so many things about these anti-smoking laws.

[rbnyc]

37. People take whatever job is available.

Dangers should be minimized.

[Mr.Green93]

32. smoking in public is a public health issue?

Then it should be banned outright.

[rbnyc]

36. Well, that's what I think. (nt)

[momophile]

13. I'm a non-smoker and have avoided bars b/c of smoking

so now my husband and I can go to a bar in Denver and not gag.

[eeyore]

54. There wasn't a single non-smoking bar in all of Denver?

There was literally no bar you could go to before?

[johnnie]

14. Cool!

It's funny, I just passed a law that states if you don't smoke like a chimney while at my house, I kick your ass out on the street.

[bigwillq]

15. The bars won't really suffer.

They haven't in CT. It will take some time for people to get use to it but believe me, I am a smoker and hated the law when it first took place in CT but now I love it.

You can breathe so much better in the bars/clubs and you don't go home reeking of smoke.

[Reverend_Smitty]

26. Its one of the reasons why I love going into NYC...

I hate paying 8 dollars for a beer but its great that I don't have to reek like smoke on the train ride home and I'm not hacking up a lung the next day.

NJ's smoking ban will come into effect I think next month. I doubt the world will stop spinning because people will need to step outside for a smoke

[Texasgal]

17. Ohhhh NO!

:popcorn:

This is gonna be a flamefest in no time!

[ContraBass Black]

18. I hate smoking, and I would love nothing more than for it to not exist.

But I don't think these laws have legs.

[Strong Atheist]

20. Agreed. nt.

[LynneSin]

21. Bars suffer if they won't try to adapt

We've been smokefree here in Delaware for several years now and yes, a few places suffer. But they were really good places to go to in the first place. One that claims it was the smoking ban that got them was an overpriced club that served pretty crappy food during the day. My friends and I had quit going there about a year before the ban simply because there were better options nearby.

But yes, the state will hit at first and then it'll go back to normal. And most places will find great ways to setup outdoor decks even in the dead of winter

[anarch]

22. What if you're standing right at the state line,

and your smoke is drifting into the state? Can the Colorado State Police still arrest you? What if there is an accidental fire? :shrug:

[Radio_Guy]

24. Losing our freedoms one by one

I don't smoke, but I am not going to advocate banning smoking. I am not gay, but I am not going to advocate banning homosexuality. I can not get pregnant, but I am not going to advocate banning abortions.

[rbnyc]

39. being a smoker is not the same as being gay or selecting to end an...

...unwanted pregnancy.

Besides, the issue isn't about being a smoker, it's about where one smokes.

If it were only a question of what what does with their own body, that would be different, but smoking in public, especially in someone's workplace, where they are required to be, is essentially assault.

[Shine]

30. They banned here in Santa Cruz, but the rules are broken all the time.

I was surprised to go into a local bar recently and be assaulted by a huge wave of smoke. I asked another customer about it and basically, this particular bar had the rep of the place where smokers could go and weren't gonna get hassled. If nobody complains about it, the rules are hard to enforce.

I was clearly in the minority, so I didn't stay long. The smoke gave me a headache.

I also have mixed feelings about Smoke Bans. I don't go to bars often, and I certainly don't smoke, but if people who are in both categories want to have a place where they can go, well then I say: Live and Let Live.....even if, ironically, smoking cuts down one's life span. :eyes: The rest of us non-smokers can simply stay out of those places.

But, on the other hand, second-hand smoke is a reality and has been proven to cause harm. So, it gets a bit tricky in common areas.

To each, their own. We all get to make our choices and Live or Die by them.

Can we ENFORCE Healthy choices??? Hmmm..... :popcorn:

[rbnyc]

38. I hate heroin, but I think a person should be allowed to shoot up.

But they shouldn't be allowed to shoot me up!

;-)

As a consumer, I can stay away from smoking establishments, but people who work in the service industry or as performers, can't always be so selective about where they work. That's what it comes down to for me. People will take the job that's available 'cause people gotta eat. The law should work to make places of employment as safe as possible.

:hi:

[Shine]

42. I agree 100%

:hi:

[TrogL]

31. We did it here

The bars are fine - patrons just smoke on the back steps. The bingo halls are having problems but recovering.

[rbnyc]

41. Thanks for reminding me...

...to add this thread to my journal:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=4376981

[Nikia]

43. I don't think this really takes people's rights away

People still have a right to smoke: at home or outside. People have a right to breathe non smokey air too.
I could just as easily say that I feel that my rights to be nude are imposed on because I cannot be nude in public, certainly not at normal bars and restaurants.

[bluestateguy]

44. I'm a libertarian on smoking issues

In my personal life, I'm very anti-smoking. I don't allow others to smoke in my home, and I avoid public establishments where there is a lot of smoke indoors.

But as a policy issue, it should be up to the business owner to decide. Stores and restaurants can advertise themselves as catering to smokers or non-smokers. Let the businessperson decide. If employees of a smoking friendly facility don't like it, then they can find someplace else to work, or try to change their boss's mind.

Only schools, government buildings and health care facilities should ban smoking across the board.

[rbnyc]

45. Should it be up to energy companies to decide...

...how much coal dust is okay for miner's to breathe?

[bluestateguy]

47. Uh no

I'm not really sure where you came up with that analogy, but no.

My position remains unchanged.

[rbnyc]

50. You said it should be up to business owners to decide...

...how much second-hand smoke their employees should breathe. It's a pretty simple analogy. What's the difference?

:shrug:

[Kingshakabobo]

59. Yep. Filthy liberals want to ban everything in the work-place.

The employer should decide how he manages his own place of business. If the employees don't like it they can lump it on out of there find work elsewhere.

Filthy liberals went and banned:

Sexual harassment
Race discrimination
Asbestos
Fire hazards and lack of fire-exits
Cockroaches
Unsanitary kitchens and open sewers
Child labor
etc.

[rbnyc]

62. Bless your heart.

:hi:

[no name no slogan]

46. Many cities and counties have banned smoking in public places

so it only follows that a state-wide ban would happen.

It has hurt some businesses at first, but overall they do rebound. I'm an ex-smoker (smoked for ten, quite for ten) and I know of several places where I'll now go because I don't have to be bothered by excessive smoke.

[DanCa]

48. I dont like telling people how to live

And I don't smoke - (allergic to it). I wonder when there going to try to ban alcohol again.

[rbnyc]

51. They ban drinking and driving...

...and other activities involving alcohol that put people in harm's way.

Same difference.

[JitterbugPerfume]

49. when I was a smoker

I really truly did not understand the effect my smoking had on non smokers

[Kingshakabobo]

55. Do you "get it" now? n/t

[Minnesota Libra]

53. CO and other states ban smoking but do nothing about........

.....the ever increasing volume of car exhaust. Go figure:wtf:

[Kingshakabobo]

56. They do "nothing"? That's not an accurate statement now Is it? n/t

[Katherine Brengle]

60. Actually, you would be surprised--

when MA broke out the no smoking in bars law, I was a smoker, and we all talked about how all the bars were going to lose business if people couldn't smoke--it was bs. We still go to the same places, and even smokers seem to prefer the clean air.

Now, I don't know if I agree with the laws in principle, but they don't hurt business, at least not insofar as I can see.

[richmwill]

61. It didn't hurt NY...

...from what I notice. The bars are still full, the smokers just step outside to have their cigarettes.

[leftofthedial]

63. except the casinos

money talks