Bars exempted from smoking ban

electronic ciggys are getting more and more popular in states than have passed comphrensive public smoking bans that include the riskiest environments, places where the most public smoking has occured in the past. There is nothing worse than sharing a dancefloor with a drunk, rude person with a ciggy dangling from their lips.

A Indiana University review of state and local smoking bans concludes bars and casinos have nothing to fear economically, and might even benefit.

IU didn't conduct its own study, but examined 49 past peer-reviewed studies of the effects of smoking laws from New York to Fort Wayne. 47 of them found no economic harm to business.

Center for Health Policy director Eric Wright says the sample was skewed in one of the two exceptions, while the other reviewed smoking bans passed in tandem with other laws. He says there's no reason to expect anything similar to interfere with the results of a smoking ban in Indiana.

Wright says smoke-free businesses can save $1,000 to $2,000 per employee in health costs, and $19 per 100 square feet in cleaning costs. That's on top of the increased customer traffic he says many establishments enjoyed, from a three-percent uptick in Lexington, Kentucky, to a 39-percent surge in the first month after Fort Wayne passed its smoking ban.

Caved again.........

Smoking is a legal drug addiction that needs to be controlled......

I am sick and tired of having to walk thru the smoke lines at any where............. To enter or exit a building......

Thank you jjsmith! :) This is an issue I've been following for a long time. I hope my input can be helpful.

- MJM

all audio is available at http://www.ncleg.net

It doesn't matter now; since the debate is over and the bill passed 2nd Reading.

Rep. Cole's amendment (which I've discussed in more detail in the previous entry) is a good one, but as noted there's really not even a sound reason for a ban in restaurants where smoking parents might bring their children.

I greatly appreciate the chance for the input the News & Observer is offering here. It would be nice if there was a live broadcast to listen to the arguments in more depth and which would afford the opportunity to comment better while amendments and votes were still under consideration, but this is still a very commendable action by the N&O!

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