Indiana

What Are They Smoking?

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

I was having a discussion with a friend recently who opposes a statewide smoking ban.  In his rant, which involved the usual references to liberty and freedom, he also decried the pro-smoking ban proponents as Nazis.  I immediately corrected him on two counts.  First, it?s not cool to call people Nazis.  Secondly, you can actually negotiate with Nazis, the pro-smoking ban crowd, not so much.

I watched nearly three hours of testimony this week in the Indiana Senate Public Policy Committee over a proposed smoking ban for the state.  It allows exemptions for casinos, bars, tobacco shops and legion halls.  And although by some estimates that would cover about 75% of Indiana businesses and workplaces, that?s not good enough for the anti-smoking crowd.  For some reason these guys want to play a zero-sum game and for them it?s either all or nothing.  Someone needs to sit down and tell these guys how the Legislature works.

First of all, the point of a legislative body is to compromise.  It?s a very rare day when a bill makes through the legislature in its original form, particularly when it is as wide reaching as the proposed smoking ban.  Everyone with half a brain and who has paid attention to the Indiana General Assembly knows that there is no way, particularly with the current make up of the second branch of government, that a total smoking ban is going to pass anytime soon.  And instead of using some common sense, the anti-smoking forces have decided to settle for nothing rather than something that gets them more of they?ve ever received in the past 15 years that this issue has been brought up.

The smoke-free crowd argues that no level of exposure of second hand smoke is healthy.  They may be correct, however there is this thing called reality that they may want some exposure to as well.  A total ban is not going to happen.  However, if they adopted something similar to the Marion County ordinance that only allows smoking in places that doesn?t allow children they can    pass that legislation tomorrow, or whenever the Democrats come back from Illinois.  Hey guys, if I may paraphrase Mitch Daniels, purity tests are only for suicide bombers and jihadists.  And 75% of something is better than 100% of nothing.  Now go put that in your pipe and, well, never mind.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on March 26, 2011 (boomark / email).