Not everything bad needs to be illegal...(part 2)

Nice rant from Chris Lynch today about smoking bans, and their desirability. It's an interesting question, and I tend to agree with most of what he said.

Some people simply didn't want smoking in bars and restaurants but market forces that created a limited number of smoke free environments wasn't enough for them. These people wrongly established laws based upon things that may or may not be true and were able to foist their belief system upon others. This way of doing things is no better than activist judges in my book...Smoking bans were enacted via bad-science and legislative back doors. I like eating in smoke free restaurants but I'm not willing to trade that in exchange for bad laws.

I loathe cigarette smoke. Hate it. Frankly, my life is much more pleasant than it would have been 30 years ago. I don't have to ask for non-smoking sections in restaurants, there's no issue with smoke in the workplace (20 years ago when I started, there were people smoking at their desks.) Frankly, I'm thrilled that I don't have to put up with it.

I also think that a bar or restaurant that wants to allow its patrons to smoke should be able to...