March 27, 2004
"People are going to be at one another's throats."
At midnight tomorrow, the Republic of Ireland will become the first country to ban smoking in all workplaces: offices, pubs, theaters, even movie sets.
Northern Ireland, which does not have any such ban on the books, is preparing for an onslaught of "cigarette tourists."
I am wholly opposed to bans like this. We all know smoking is unhealthy, and so is second hand smoke, but that's why places have nonsmoking sections. There are also whole nonsmoking bars and restaurants that exist without needing to have laws passed. This will wreak havoc on the economies of everywhere affected (including Northern Ireland), and for what will probably be only marginal public health improvement.
Plus, actual science has shown that smoking and drinking go together.
Posted by at March 27, 2004 2:40 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.smorgasblog.com/cgi-bin/mt/smorgastb.r740.cgi/426