H -°, L 22° | Tomorrow: 
H 23°, L 4°In just more than two months, barring corrective action, Madison’s taverns will be disturbingly gripped by a counterproductive, anti-libertarian smoking ban. This board has expressed extreme discontent with this pending ban as a whole as well as numerous peripheral issues disconcertingly raised by its proposed implementation. But one dilemma entirely paradoxical to the ban’s proposed benefits has gone largely unnoted of late: the ban will actually prove a public health problem.
Bars and law enforcement officers alike face the inherent constraint of having limited resources. Currently, taverns must dedicate no small modicum of attention to tending to potential brawls, keeping clientele from over-consuming and ensuring a general level of civility in a place patronized oftentimes for the explicit purpose of testing the normal limits of civility.
When bar owners and employees are forced to transform into the ashtray Gestapo to avoid lofty fines from police officers enacting a whole new version of “Smokey and the Bandit,” attention will be inherently diverted away from other, more immediate and crucial concerns for tavern patrons’ welfare. While bar fights and over-consumption pose immediate health risks to the beer purchasing public, the detriments of second-hand smoke — the supposed guiding rationale behind the ban — are long-term, far from inevitable and, yes, smoky. Moreover, crowds of drunk smokers elbow to elbow at the bar’s front door is a prime recipe for liquor-induced fighting. Indeed, it is in the best interest of bar owners and patrons alike for all available resources to be directed toward preventing these already-established risks and not spent confiscating Joe Camel’s hindquarters.
But this is merely one serious issue facing the soon-to-be-implemented smoking ban. Other heavy problems abound, as this board has taken — and will continue to take — great efforts to illustrate. With a new City Council now seated and business back at hand, it is time for alders to come together and actually do something in the best interests of all of Madison’s pub patrons: repeal the smoking ban.
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good conclusion but horrible writing
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You have other cities on record to look at…do you see increased fighting in NYC or CA?
As for the “over-consumption”—come on. How many times have you actually seen someone at a campus bar cut someone off who they think has had too much to drink?
The smoking ban has fair critiques—free will, enforcement costs, etc. I don’t think there’s a credible case hear, though, without some actual evidence.
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You can do whatever you want in your own home. But I for one plan on going out far more now that I know I won’t be in a haze all night. It’s bad enough to wake up next to the toilet, you don’t need to smell and feel like an ashtray on top of that. Bring on the Ban!!
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This article is a complete farse. I’ve been to a smoke free country (Ireland, who by the way drinks Madison under the table) and there has been no problems implamenting the ban and still keeping the “peace” in the bar. Again, as the second poster said, when is the last time you saw a shit faced drunk get turned down for a drink? I’d tell you guys to get some real facts for your next anti smoking ban article, but by the looks of recent opinions from the BH board on this issue, you are all going to die of lung cancer first. Cheers, and bring on the ban.
Z
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Seriously, I wasn’t that excited about the band, but if Ireland can do it without fighting, so can we. I mean, come on, IRELAND.
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wow, relax guys, smoking bans have gone over well in every city that has adopted them. The police have not had to do much work with taming the crowds since the bouncers usually take care of the problems (since the bar gets ticketed). Calm yourselves, maybe you’re having a nic fit?
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Are you serious? Do you really believe bouncers are going to have to spend all their time telling unruly bar patrons to put out their cigarettes? I highly doubt that there are going to be that many smokers who are going to put up that much of a stink about not being able to smoke in bars. It’s a small inconvenience that they already have to deal with in other aspects of their lives (eg, I doubt most are allowed to smoke at work). Give it up. As you can see from above posts, many people are looking forward to the ban.
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I suggest we ban the Irish from our shores.
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I just love observing nicotine-addicted people try to justify disallowing the smoking ban. Pathetic.
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I love these headlines! Right out of the Joseph Goebbels School of Propaganda, claiming that banning something that kills millions of people every year will cause even worse public health problems than allowing it to continue!
Do you people even know what a fact is anymore?
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I’m a smoker, and, of course, would prefer to be allowed to smoke in bars. However, on a city wide level where people will go out and drink anyways, the smoking ban has no effect on business. Madison will work the same way.
Businesses do, however, suffer in rural and smaller areas where a large portion of the business are guys coming home from work and stopping in the bar for a beer or two and a cig or two. These guys stop coming to the bar for happy hour and go home instead. This has been the case in upstate New York. The city bars thrive, the rural ones do not.
As long as this is dealt with on a locality by locality basis, though, I don’t mind it. I don’t particularly like it, but I don’t mind it. Do I think the public health data 10, 20 and 30 years down the road will say this has made any meaningful difference? I sincerely doubt it. But the BH’s points hold just as little or less water.
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Speaking of the the continuous string of bad headlines, check out the one on the main page about John Gard entering the SENATE race.
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I don’t know what’s wrong with you people in the Midwest. Back home in NY we’ve banned smoking in bars for years now. Guess what? No ill effects. No front-door fights for smoking space.
What a stupid, stretched argument.
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This has got to be one of the most illogical, idiotic editorials that ever appeared in the BH. Your “editorial board” needs an overhaul.
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Just a couple of thoughts here. One if everyone is outside smoking guess where the butts go thats right on the side walk. So I guess the next step is to ban smoking outside. Two if more people are going to go the bars now because of no smoking it does increase the chance of problems. Finally if people go outside madison to drink they have to come back in and not all people are smart enough to get a cab. Oh one other thing I have seen bartenders not serve someone because they were drunk.
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April 21st’s editorial on the risks of smoking bans was perceptive, but incomplete. There are many additional risks and harms that arise from these bans that are universally ignored by the Antismoking Lobby.
To name just a few: Fire risks increase as people smoke in obscure areas and hastily dispose of still-lit cigarettes without ashtrays available. Fire risks also increase as people drink and smoke more at home in front of the TV on a soft couch rather than at the pub.
Police efforts to back up enforcement of the ban take police away from their job of protecting people from violent crime. Home parties increase and with them we see increased consumption of cheap alcohol and increased drinking by minors. Drunk driving deaths increase as smokers travel to surrounding areas where smoking is permitted, and deaths due to fights arising from the ban itself are not unknown in other cities although perhaps not yet in Madison. Spiking of unattended drinks, theft of unattended purses, and price increases necessitated by extra door personnel are all additional “costs” of smoking bans.
Allowing bars and restaurants to choose their own smoking policies reflects a respect for both freedom and common sense.
Michael J. McFadden Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains” http://cantiloper.tripod.com
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Has anyone considered the environmental effects of an increased number of cigarette butts sure to line the streets outside bars? It surprises me that Progressive Dane failed to consult its environmentally friendly supporters. Must be too busy seeing green. It also surprises me that a Board so bent on attacking the smoking ban failed to mention it once!
Consider these links, Heralders:
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2005/February/25/LNspot.htm
http://www.longwood.edu/cleanva/cigbuttqanda.htm
http://web.vtc.edu/mt/102/Projects/ElectronicNotebooks/SectionA/JoshCross/cig4_1.html