Tobacco.org

FACEOFF QUESTION: Should the government require restaurants to ban all smoking?  

By Kent Moreno:

Allow me to cut to the chase. I believe that all restaurants should be smoke free. I also believe that all bars should be smoke free. When it comes to issues of personal choice, within limits, as long as the person is hurting no one but themselves, I have a very strong libertarian streak. . . .

Until someone invents a benign, pleasant smelling tobacco, we are going to have to rely on a smoking ban in restaurants (and hopefully bars) to protect nonsmokers and especially children from the health risks associated with second hand smoke. This may mean some inconvenience for smokers but that's life.

By Stephen Smoot:

I do not smoke cigarettes. I do not like cigarettes. I do not want my children to smoke cigarettes. . . .

The precedent set by granting power to non elected boards is frightening, especially since they have ventured from protecting the public into social engineering. That does not mean that all their authority ought to be removed. We do need to have basic standards for cleanliness set and enforced. However, their authority should be much more strictly delineated or at least half of their members ought to be elected officials of some stripe. Citizens of a free society must question the source of this authority and demand ways to force them to be accountable. Otherwise, what incentive do they have to consider the public? Where does their authority stop?

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