massachusetts smoking ban faiLs?

[sniffa]

woohoo for me and other smokers (we stiLL got quincy to smoke in).

Surprising pol leaves smoking ban bill in haze
By Steve Marantz
Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Anti-tobacco activists went away from the State House huffing and puffing yesterday after a senator walked away from a workplace smoking ban she sponsored - stalling the measure in a committee.

About 75 activists showed up to celebrate a House-Senate agreement to ban smoking in workplaces but were stunned to learn the bill was sunk by the surprise opposition of a Lincoln Democrat, Sen. Susan C. Fargo.

``There is no logical reason for what happened today - a landmark piece of public health legislation was inexplicably delayed,'' said Diane Pickles of Tobacco Free Mass, an umbrella coalition.

Three lawmakers on the joint committee said they thought Fargo was on board right up until she cast her vote yesterday afternoon.

``This is shocking. We are as shocked as anyone,'' said Rep. Peter Koutoujian (D-Waltham), who endorsed the bill.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=3617

--- so this means no statewide ban now?

[meegbear]

1. I hope so ...

I wanna smoke in the bar.

[sniffa]

2. me too

aLthough i appreciate smoke free bars, i'd Like to be abLe to have a choice in the matter.

[Gasolinedream]

3. I don't know much about this...

Is this a complete smoking ban? Can you still smoke in your house or on your front porch or what?

I do not smoke, but I think many of these bans are stupid. I do wish they had a better method of separation in most restaurants, but i am from Cleveland. Bars smell like smoke and liquor. When they don't, something's wrong. :)

[LynneSin]

4. as someone who lives in a state with a total ban

You can smoke where you like on private property. You just can smoke in a public building which includes Bars & Restaurants.

As a non-smoker, I love the ban. Personally I find myself preferring to go to local clubs in Wilmington than to drive up to Philly where the clubs are better but I smell like I've rolled around in an ashtray.

Sure, a few bars in Delaware had to close because of the ban, but the great bars and clubs found ways to keep their business going and even make accomadations for smokers. Smokers are allowed to smoke on outside decks and many places now have decks that are even heated in the wintertime (complete with a bar so you can order drinks while you're smoking).

Believe me, Delaware has more problems with pollution than just 2nd hand smoke but it's a nice start. Smokers tried once to overturn the bill but it failed miserably. However on a bright side - smokes are cheaper to buy in Delaware than all of our neighboring states.

Eventually smoking bans will happen throughout most of the country in the next 10 years.

[Gasolinedream]

7. i don't mind ...

bans in indoor public places, but i certainly hope they never go so far as to try and ban all smoking everywhere. That's too much government intrusion into our lives, IMO. I would love to go to a bar an not reek, in reality. I can smell smoke a mile away. But, never should they intrude into our homes and our property.

It's good that some clubs are offering alternatives. Personally,
If i was a nightclub owner, and i was worried about it and wanted smoking, I would turn my club into a "private" club. If you go there, you pay to get into the club, and you can smoke.

[LynneSin]

8. they don't allow "private clubs" yet in Delaware

but I can see that happening.

I agree - government should not intrude on people's property. But my BIGGEST pet peeve is parents who smoke in their cars with their kids. Heck I had a friend who would do it and leave the window up. She got the hint when I went and brought a pack of cigerettes for her kid (although I never gave them to her daughter who was 8 at the time). I did it for affect though - that with all that heavy smoking she was doing around her daughter she might as well just have the kid smoking her own cigerettes. She has cut back drastically since and when she bought a new car a year later she stopped smoking in the car altogether.

[Gasolinedream]

11. I'm with you...

on the parents. i work with some people who get sick a lot and their kids get sick a lot. Well, she smoked in pregnancy and they both smoke in the house and cars all the time. I can't say for sure the smoking does it, but it can't be contributing to their health!

I'll tell you what, i have my crazy Grandpa to thank for my anti-smoking. One of my earliest memories is my grandpa, when I was like 6 years old, letting me try his cigarette. I think he knew what it would do to me. He said go ahead and breathe it in. I remember gagging and couging up a lung. Talk about aversion therapy. I know it sounds awful to do to a kid, but all I remember is hating, hating, hating it and never desiring a cigarette ever again after that.

He ended up dying from cigarettes, basically. He got emphesema a few years ago and he would take off the oxygen mask to smoke!

i definitely don't like the cigarette companies hooking kids either, but in a free society, I just don't think you can completely ban it. similar to Prohibition.

[TXlib]

9. If congress had any real balls,

they'd declare tobacco a controlled substance.

I don't understand why we tolerate an industry that produces such a harmful product, when their future (no matter how much they protest) depends on their hooking kids on cigarettes.

As long as tobacco remains legal, though, I agree with the posters who say that the government should not intrude on private property.

[sniffa]

10. i'm for freedom of

abusing my body without govt. intrusion. no controLLed substances. they shouLd reguLate it aLL, tax it, and foLd the dea into homeLand security.

[Loonman]

5. Because the legislation would have allowed for:

Banning smoking in private residences, eventually.


This person was right in stepping down to put the brakes on this.



I'll be damned if I'll have the busy-bodies tell me what I can and cannot do in my own residence.

[RamblingRose]

6. Gwinnett County outside of Atlanta passed a "Clean Indoor Air Ordinance"

prohibiting smoking in public places. It took effect April 1st. It's so nice to be able to take the kids into a Waffle House now and be able to breathe! It's already survived one challenge by a local nightclub owner.



Smoking Prohibited in Public Places


On December 16, 2003, the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners amended the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance, Chapter 42, Article VI, pertaining to smoking in public places and places of employment. The changes to this Article become effective April 1, 2004; after which smoking will not be permitted in workplaces and public places.Exceptions are limited to retail tobacco stores, property owned or leased by municipalities, the State of Georgia, or the federal government, designated smoking rooms in hotels and motels (not to exceed 25% of the total number of rooms available), designated smoking areas on external balconies at any indoor arena (with capacity of at least 5,000 persons) and outdoor areas of places of employment (unless the owner declares otherwise). The ordinance covers all of unincorporated Gwinnett County. The ordinance does not apply to private residences.


The Article requires all workplaces and public places in unincorporated Gwinnett County to become 100% smoke-free and that the owner, operator, manager or other person having control of such building shall clearly and conspicuously post “NO SMOKING”signs or symbols at every building where smoking is prohibited by this Article.