{"id":231,"date":"2005-05-26T17:21:43","date_gmt":"2005-05-27T01:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/songoose.com\/?p=33"},"modified":"2025-07-22T18:38:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:38:00","slug":"philadelphia-smoking-ban-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/?p=231","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Smoking Ban — Finally!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NOTE: Unexpected red tape has actually stalled the ban from passing. Mayor Street promises<\/em> to have this done by the end of the year)<\/p>\n

Today Philadelphia City Council FINALLY passed a bill to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Sidewalk cafes and private clubs are exempt, and bars whose food receipts total less than 10% of the total revenue will have an extra two years to implement the new law (Jan. 08). For all other businesses, the ban will take effect in January 2006. Hallelujah!<\/p>\n

(Of course, the final vote could still be vetoed by the Mayor — he supports the law but feels this one is not strict enough.)<\/p>\n

Hopefully the state of Pennsylvania will get their act together shortly, similar to how Massachusettes and New York state passed laws once their major cities were on board.<\/p>\n

Obviously this decision is being met with a wide variety of reactions, and everyone seems to be an expert. Including me…<\/p>\n

If you haven’t figured this out by now, I love the new law. What it really comes down to is how your actions affect other people; I’m fine with smoking — people should be allowed to do it as much as they so choose, as long as it does not put others in danger. Smoking in enclosed, public spaces does just that — it forces those around the smoker to inhale toxic air. This is a public health issue, period. Smoking negatively affects the air in a bar or restaurant, and thus negatively affects all breathing employees and customers of that restaurant.<\/p>\n

I’ve had a lot of conversations about this particluar issue, and heard the same weak arguments from smokers over and over again. So, in the spirit of one-sided debating, I’ve decided to respond to the most common smoker “counterpoints”: <\/p>\n

“Why not ban drinking? How is it different than drinking? People who want to go to non-smoking bars are hypocritical because they are drinking at those bars.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

It really cracks me up when people compare cigarette smoking to drinking alcohol. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME.<\/p>\n

If I sit next to you and you smoke a cigarette, it affects me. I am forced to inhale toxins that negatively affect my health. If you are drinking a beer, I am not affected in any way. As I said earlier, this is all about how your actions affect other people.<\/p>\n

Drinking is legal. Drinking and driving is not legal. Acting disorderly when drunk is not legal. Basically, you can drink to your heart’s desire as long as it does not endanger others.<\/p>\n

Smoking should follow the same suit… Smoke your little heart out as long as it does not affect other people. Unfortunately, smoking in an enclosed space affects everyone around you, which is why it should be banned.<\/p>\n

As far as I’m concerned, this should be applied to other drugs as well — If someone wants to smoke pot or do coke or whatever in the privacy of their own home and doesn’t allow that to negatively affect anyone else, why should it be illegal?<\/p>\n

“This is a violation of my rights; I have a right to smoke”<\/strong><\/p>\n

No, you don’t. Smoking cigarettes may be legal in this country, but it is neither a protected interest nor a fundamental right, so the government can choose to regulate it as they please. In actuality, there are already a wide range of regulations on smoking that receive little compliaint; Smoking is banned in office buildings, airplanes, etc., and extending this ban to bars & restaurants is simply our government updating existing laws to better serve and protect the public welfare. Until we pass a constitutional ammendment to protect this so-called “right to smoke”, you’re SOL.<\/p>\n

“If you dont like the smoke, dont go to bars.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personally, I have curtailed my bar hopping because I can’t handle the smoke. But it isn’t that simple. I like going to bars, and miss it (unless I’m in one of the smoke-free states, in which case it’s great). In addition, there are other events that I enjoy, say a ROCK ‘N ROLL SHOW, where I must endure smoke to attend. Why is that? I have to endanger my health to see a band I like?<\/p>\n

I also had a stint as a live music reviewer — a career I’ve dreamed of having — but in order to do so I had to visit many a smoking venue. I just don’t want to live in a world where pursuing a dream requires endangering one’s physical health.<\/p>\n

“You just don’t want to smell like cigarettes; Second hand smoke only affects people with long term exposure, not the casual bar drinker.” <\/strong><\/p>\n

Does anyone truly know the exact effects of spending 2-6 hours in a smoky bar per week over a long period of time? I’m not ashamed to admit that I do not. (I’m sure it differs per person.) What I do know is that smoke contains a ton of harmful toxins and carcinogens, and I don’t want to take any chances by exposing myself to them. I shouldn’t have to.<\/p>\n

Many of these laws were passed with the idea in mind that bar workers should not have to work in a smoking environment — office buildings are smoke-free, why aren’t all workplaces? I couldn’t agree more. Interestingly, the whole workplace thing does not only affect people who choose to work at bars. As I mentioned earlier, I spent some time writing live music reviews on a regular basis, most of which took place at smoking venues. That profession has nothing to do with smoking, but I still was forced to deal with it everytime I went to write a review.<\/p>\n

“Private business owners should have right to choose.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Private business owners cannot allow people to break the law in their establishment just because it is privately owned. Smoking is a public health issue, and laws are being created to handle it. If the government sees fit to pass a new law to uphold the public welfare, private business owners must obey that law. This is a civilized society — laws that everyone must obey are a necessary evil. <\/p>\n

Smokers and non-smokers obviously will continue to battle over this issue. I’m just happy this much-needed ban is finally making its way to my neck of the woods.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(NOTE: Unexpected red tape has actually stalled the ban from passing. Mayor Street promises to have this done by the end of the year) Today Philadelphia City Council FINALLY passed a bill to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Sidewalk cafes and private clubs are exempt, and bars whose food receipts total less than 10% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ramblings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":608,"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.mikemadaio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}