Get involved: A comprehensive smoking ban is long overdue in Oregon

I had planned to post about this after seeing the post on BlueOregon yesterday. A post by Jeff over at Beervana today inspired me to go ahead and post, even though the topic is being covered well on BlueOregon and elsewhere.

I'm generally ambivalent about smoking bans. I have a pretty strong libertarian streak, and I don't believe in legislating behavior codes. In America, you don't have a right not to be offended.

Jeff goes on to cite another post by Kari Chisholm on BlueOregon today that gives yet another reason why we must rally to make sure this smoking ban makes it across the finish line:

But for high-school dropouts, especially middle-aged women with minimal skills, there are very few jobs out there that pay a living wage. One of the few is serving food and drinks, a job that combines the minimum wage with tips.

Many under-educated older women have very few occupational options -- and working in smoky bars pays comparatively well. Right now, we're asking them to trade their health for a living wage.

Jeff makes a great observation beyond that:

I'd add that working the late shift is good for moms who don't want to be away from their kids too long. So, on balance, I guess I'll back the legislation. Mostly I go to non-smoking bars, anyway.

Jeff and Kari are being far more logical and level-headed on this than I'm inclined to be -- and I respect their restraint. For me it has nothing to do with not having the right to not be offended. It has everything to do with what I see and smell every single day. I see one or two smokers standing at a bus stop puffing away in the middle of a crowd of ten people who aren't smoking. And then throwing their smoking butts on the ground before they board the bus. I sit behind cars in traffic where the drivers are blowing smoke out their window -- and into mine. Before they throw their butts out onto the street. I go to see bands I don't want to miss and then wake up the next morning feeling like I have a head cold -- as I take my rancid-smelling clothes to the laundry. And the list goes on. And on.

I know there are plenty of perfectly courteous smokers out there, but like so many things in society, it's the few jerks who ruin it for everyone else. And when the jerks become enough of a hazard to society, the courteous, law-abiding masses get pissed and a law is passed. Such is the situation in Oregon around smokers.

It shows how tolerant and forgiving Oregonians are that we've put this legislation off for so long -- far too long in my opinion. It's time to get the job done and get our service workers and everyone else affected by smoking out of harm's way.

I can't say it better than Kari said it in his post yesterday so I'll wrap up with that:

Time to call your State Representatives. You know they will be hearing from loads of tavern owners, and the cigarette industry will definitely pull out all the stops lobbying against this bill. Our Legislators shouldn't give another inch to restaurant and bar owners. They already get one of the sweetest and most ridiculous state subsidies ever devised (about 25% of the gambling profits from every machine), and frankly, the case that a smoking ban will actually lower their profits is flimsy.

Ban Smoking in Oregon Bars? | Beervana

Technorati Tags: Oregon, politics, Portland, smoking, smoking ban, tobacco

Comments

[martin]

"...like so many things in society, it's the few jerks who ruin it for everyone else."
That is so true. Bicyclists, police officers, campers, pretty much everybody.
As a (responsible) smoker, I don't smoke at the bus stop, or throw butts on the sidewalk, etc. etc.
I've voted yes on every cigarette tax increase that has been offered to voters since 1993.
I'll accept the argument about the health of tavern employees, begrudgingly. I'll also admit that the smoking ban in Eugene and Corvallis probably hasn't hurt the bottom line of bars in those towns. The states of New York, California, and Washington have done it, and it makes sense that Oregon would be next.
I've bitched about the Oregon Restaurant Association's efforts to lower Oregon's minimum wage countless times, and I'm not sure I feel comfortable allying myself with them on this issue.
HOWEVER, I have just two requests for all the non-smokers:
1) Don't complain that the heated outdoor areas--that are sure to be added to some bars after this passes--are too smoky. That's our porch now.
2) Don't ask me to give you a cigarette after you drink three beers because you "only smoke when you drink." You're ruining it for the rest of the pink-lungers.
Please let me know if this doesn't sound fair.