A Prohibition on tobacco?

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on April 1, 2009 - 5:05pm.
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Cary AllredRep. Cary Allred said the smoking ban is risky.

Invoking the specter of Prohibition, the Alamance County Republican said that a proposed ban on smoking in restaurants and bars would lead to "smoking speakeasies."

"You'll drive it underground," he said. "Taverns and restaurant owners will find a way to get around it."

He called it a "tattle-tale enforcement law" and argued that alcohol and fatty foods were just as dangerous.

"You need to ban fatty foods," he said. "You need to ban the consumption of fatback and fatty bacon in public places. You need to give these children an example so that they won't keep eating themselves to death."

He also said business owners are ducking responsibilty for telling their customers not to smoke in their restaurants.

"They want you to pass a law that they can blame on legislators," he said. 

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Re: A Prohibition on tobacco?

Submitted by SStahl on April 2, 2009 - 8:48am.

This should shake people awake. Well, it _should_.

Tobacco prohibition is nothing new. People usually think of alchol Prohibition, but tobacco went through the same thing at the same time in American history. Interestingly, acohol and tobacco prohibitons preceded something that historians cal the...uh...Great Depression! Sound familiar, LOL.

Those who do not learn from the past.... ;-)

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Re: A Prohibition on tobacco?

Submitted by MichaelJMcFadden on April 1, 2009 - 7:19pm.

Rep. Allred is correct: there are news stories all over the web about places defying smoking bans in states, cities, and even entire countries where they've been passed. Sometimes those people stand up and make a lot of noise until the government comes in and stamps them out, but more often it's just a quiet, sneaking sort of defiance that simply helps to break down our society.

It's not just anecdotal evidence from news stories either: about four years ago an antismoking-oriented researcher published a study that concluded that even in California, the heart and soul of "Antismokerdom," almost half the bars investigated showed signs of defying their ban to some extent. And just last year a team of researchers led by a Dr. Cotti showed over a 10% increase in drunk driving deaths/accidents in areas after bans were imposed. Some of that may have been people driving to non-ban areas but the authors admitted that an unknown amount of the accidents were probably also caused by people driving greater distances to get to bars/restaurants that were still illegally allowing smoking.

Rep. Allred is also correct in describing it as a "tattle-tale enforcement law." Thirty years ago we told our children tales of what it was like to grow up under a Communist government where your neighbors might be secret Stazi members who would report you for any minor infractions of the law or who would simply make up reports to get you into trouble out of spite. Smoking ban laws bring about the same sort of thing here: they hurt America; they don't help it.

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"

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