LBPOSTSports.com columnist Ryan Thies weighs in on the Long Beach City Council’s decision yesterday to allow smoking in cigar shops.
Yesterday the Long Beach City Council amended the No Smoking Ordinances to allow Cigar Shops to have smoking indoors (although not surprisingly Hookah Bars and Tobacco Shops did not have a good enough lobby to be included in the decision.)
For more background on the amendment, yesterday’s LA Times looked at the issue. Also you can read Rosa Kelson’s, of the Long Beach Smoke Free Coalition, opinion here… but frankly I have to strongly disagree with Ms. Kelson and applaud the City Council for the change.
There can be no doubt that smoking is bad for you. Just as there can be no doubt that fast food or too much sun can be bad. But smoking is different in that it not only hurts you but those around you too. And for that reason, I understand and respect a No Smoking Ordinance in all bars and restaurants. Those businesses’ primary objective is to sell food and drinks, not cigarettes. And as someone who used to work in a bar, I am actually quite grateful for those Ordinances. The health risks that a smoke-filled bar poise to waiters and waitresses are very real and very preventable.
But I am reminded of an Eddie Izzard joke: “There is no smoking in bars in California…and soon there will be no drinking and no talking.” There comes a point when we are no longer protecting the health of by-standers or employees, and frankly that line is exactly where the City Council drew it. No one enters, or works at, a Cigar Shop without knowing exactly what they are signing up for.
At what point do we suggest that people can’t smoke of their own porch because other people have to walk by it? At what point do we suggest that people can’t smoke in their own homes if they have a cleaning service or nanny come into their house? There comes a time when we can not, and must not, interfere with people’s lives, and businesses, no matter how much we may disagree with them. I think the comments section of Rosa’s opinion yesterday (or any of John Greet’s columns) show there is a ground-swell of people that just want to not be hassled. Government, at all levels, has an obligation to protect innocents, but there is also an obligation to just leave adults alone…you know, even if they are harming themselves.
Ryan Thies is an occasional contributor to the lbpost.com and LBPOSTSports.com.