Commentary Collection: Minnesota's statewide smoking ban

October 2007

 Minnesota smokers beware. If you're headed to a restaurant or bar, you'll have to take that cigarette break outside. Monday, Oct. 1 is the first day of Minnesota's new statewide smoking ban and that doesn't happen without commentary.

Read the perspectives below and submit your own commentary about Minnesota's statewide smoking ban. More from MPR:




This smoking ban just makes it easier for us to skip going out to local bars and restaurants in Hastings, since I live so close to Wisconsin. If choose to go and eat or have a few drinks I'll go there or just stay home. I feel sorry for all the bar and restaurant business along any of Minnesota's borders, and even more for those small towns bars that will more than likely close because of this law.

T.J. Filler
Hastings, Minn.



Smokers maintaining a distance from door is also a good idea.

Here in Washington state we have a ban that also prohibits smoking within 25 feet of doors, windows that open, and ventilation intakes. This is great for preventing clouds of stinky smoke from getting into buildings. Also, I see no reason why stage actors should be exempt. they can use prop cigarettes if the theatrical performance demands it. There is never a good enough reason to inflict tobacco smoke on the other people in the theater, actors and audience alike.

Charles Dick
Pullman, Wash.



Why ban what you can license?

Before I begin, I am a non-smoker. I have never smoked. I am against smoking in general. I am not a bar, restaurant, or business owner of any kind. I am not personally impacted in any way by this ban. Yet I find myself bothered by the smoking ban more than a little by it. Why is that you ask? Well here goes.

Purchasing of cigarettes in Minnesota is legal. The state of Minnesota gets a hefty tax from the sale of cigarettes. Minnesota enjoys the money generated and they are happy to spend it. The hypocrisy here is that a person's right to smoke them is being curbed. This seems unjust to me. The arguments of public heath are valid. Smoking is not good for you and has been proved to cause cancer. In fact in Europe and the UK the warning on all cigarettes says "Smoking Kills" and "Smoking Causes Cancer" right on each pack. What people forget is it is all about choice. I might choose to smoke (at least in the beginning) or I might not. If I choose to work in a place (such as a bar) where smoking occurs, that is my choice. I have chosen money over health, but I have still made a choice. I might choose to work somewhere else. There are bars and restaurants that are (and have always been) smoke free. If I choose to patron a smoking establishment, that is my choice. I have decided that whatever activity is happening inside is worth the risk. I can already hear it, "What about my choice for a healthy body?" I can't control if someone is smoking around me. But you can control yourself. Get up and leave! If you stay, it is your choice but understand that you have chosen to do that.

"Why ban what you can license? We have a liquor license for those places that serve alcohol. What not the same treatment for smoking?" - Jason Mote

I have said it before and I'll say it again. Why ban what you can license? We have a liquor license for those places that serve alcohol. What not the same treatment for smoking? It generates even more of those beloved state fees that can be happily spent on worthwhile Minnesota projects and it gives bars and restaurants a choice. Do we want to pay for the right to have smoking allowed here? The licensure would also force the business to place large signs on the outside of the building THIS IS A SMOKING ESTABLISHMENT so that there is no confusion. People who work there would also accept that they work in a smoking establishment, if not find someplace else to work. If the state allows the sale of cigarettes they must accept that they cannot curb the rights of those people who purchase them. That is the hypocrisy. If the state feels that way it should ban the sale of cigarettes entirely, then that makes them illegal. The reason they don't is because that would be doomed to failure. Remember Prohibition? That went well. First cigarettes indoors, what's next? Ban on smoking outdoors? Then an amendment to prevent gay marriage? After that, an amendment to dictate where a person can live based on income bracket? After that, are they going to mandate that every person serve in the military/Arm Reserves for 2 years? Where does it end?

Obviously, I'm being dramatic here. People need to wake up! Each day, our personal liberties are eroded away by someone's pet project (Patriot Act). This needs to stop before there is nothing left. Yes, smoking is not that important, but it is a stepping stone for larger issues. We must take a larger part in participating in the government process. Otherwise, they will run amok. This might not be an important issue to you. However, at some point they will pass something that affects you. You're not going to like it and it will not be something as trivial as this. Mark my words.

Jason Mote
Saint Michael, Minn.



They now have a smoking ban statewide, why don't they have a alcohol ban or eating ban?

There are more overweight people in this country and alcoholics. No one runs those people off like they do smokers. Smoking is a choice, so is drinking and eating. How many people are sick because of being overweight or drinking too much? The last couple of years there has been a witch hunt against smokers. I think we have more pressing issues.

Gabriele Haney
Saint Cloud, Minn.



It's all about taxes.

The state allows smokers to purchase tobacco products, (for taxes, of course) but then places a de facto prohibition to using the product. Why doesn't the state just place an outright ban on the sale of tobacco products? Taxes, of course.

Gene Lassek
Columbia Heights, Minn.


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