Stand up against smoking in bars

I’ve been thinking about why laws get enacted and what the role of the government truly is.

I’ve been thinking about why laws get enacted and what the role of the government truly is. Here’s the deal:

Minnesota has HF 188 and SF 168 that deal with re-instating smoking in bars, going against the Freedom to Breathe Act of 2007. Some people think that the issue of smoking in public places is a business right and a personal right. So, I took my dog for a walk to ponder the idea of rights.

Now, many communities have fines if your dog takes a dump and you don’t pick it up. I highly doubt there are very many people who shout “my dog has a right to do whatever he wants wherever and whenever he wants!” Nor would many be happy to utilize public bike paths and parks and be subjected to the smell or even to step in it.


So as I leaned down to pick up my dog’s pile of steaming poo, I realized I can hold my breath for a little while, and if it gets on my shoe, I can scrape it off and go about my day. I can’t do that with secondhand smoke.

It is estimated that tobacco companies spend more than $196 million a year marketing the idea that smoking in public places is a “right” among other things.

Smoking is costly to our financially strapped state: Annually, Medicaid in Minnesota pays out more than $465 million in smoking monetary costs, and each household’s state and federal tax burden from smoking-caused government expenditures is $616 a year.

Ultimately, when you know better, you can do better. The 2006 surgeon general’s report says that cleaning and filtering the air with expensive HVAC systems or floor-to-ceiling walls do not work. It also states that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Not even a little bit, or a smidge, or just on the weekend at the bar. No safe level.

Seventy-seven percent of Minnesota residents supported the Freedom to Breathe Act in September 2008.