PA smoking ban to take effect
Posted by Noah Cohen on 31 Aug 2008 at 09:26 pm | in: The Drexel Beat
A law banning cigarette, cigar and pipe smoking in restaurants, office buildings, schools, sports arenas, theaters and bus and train stations will take effect in less than two weeks, according to an AP report.
There are exceptions to the rule including lounges and special parts of casinos. “It’s a very complex law,” Judy Ochs, director of the PA Health Department’s Division of Tobacco Prevention and Control told the AP.
Health officials and business owners have said the law is confusing because of the exceptions.
Officials at Harrisburg Airport said they will continue to allow smoking in special lounges however Ochs said the airport is a public place and not covered by the exceptions, according to an AP report.
The smoking ban starts Sept 11 2008 according to a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial.
The state smoking ban will likely have little impact on Philadelphia because a similar anti-smoking law has been in place for over a year.
The Inquirer editorial said the state ban will “put Pennsylvania in the mainstream on safeguarding public health,”
Rep. Jeff Pyle called the smoking ban “intrusive” in June 2008
The ban zealots will be back to remove any exemptions in accordance to page 9 and 10 of the ban instructions. http://www.no-smoke.org/pdf/CIA_Fundamentals.pdf
I think this is another prime example of goverment stepping in where they don’t belong. I used to smoke but don’t any longer and I still feel that this is a horrible law. The owners of private business should have to the right to decide for themselves if they want their establishment to have smoking or not. If they wanted to cater only to non-smokers then they would have made their own rule about such. The business owners should not have to cater to the whims of few customers. The customers don’t have to visit that establishment if they don’t like rules. We have become a socialist country that is slowly but steadily moving away from the capitalist ideals and private liberties that this country was founded on. The goverment, our forced business parter, who takes more then 1/3 or our profits without giving anything in return now tells how to run the joint. Whats next, are they going to tell us what color to paint our walls since red is angry color and might cause pyschological problems for people 50 years later. Oh yes, we have abolished slavery in its natural form but only to embrace the yoke of slavery to minority intrest groups. Where is the american dream? Why is it so hard to make it to the top? Because your dreams are like a hot air ballon that can’t get off the ground. Your weighed down with sandbags full of goverment taxes and unconstitutional goverment regulations abused in excess during times of emergencies like the great depression but never given back when then emergency was over. Your also waiting on that “skilled” union pilot but he’s still on break so who knows when he’ll show up. It looks like your dreams will have sit on the ground but don’t light up while your waiting because we’re now monitoring the health of every individual and letting the goverment decide whats best. You just wait there and listen long enough and maybe you’ll get instructions on what your actually allowed to do next.