Recently on Reason.tv: How Far Will Smoking Bans Go? Plus, Talking Butts!

It's been a decade since California became the first state to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. After that, the deluge. How far will smoking bans go? How much farther can they go? Click above to see a Reason.tv documentary about Belmont, California, which has passed a law banning smoking in private residences (yes, it's for the children!). Just Can't Quit was written and produced by Ted Balaker. Go here for additional material, embed links, and more.

And click below to see 2002's Talking Butts: A Smoking Documentary, which was made with the help of reason's Paul Feine, Jesse Walker, Jacob Sullum, and Charles Paul Freund. The 25-minute film explores why people smoke and why attempts to regulate and punish smokers have unintended consequences. And it features a cameo by filmmaker John Waters that is absolutely unforgettable.

Comments

[Jim Wilson]

Sad, you would thnk that adults would be given the opportunity to decide for themselves. Wishful thinking.

jess
http://www.anonymity.pro.tc

[Legate Damar]

Everything is for the children.

Except the deficit, because fuck those little needy bastards.

[Calcium!]

How Far Will Smoking Bans Go?

Pretty fucking far, I'll wager.

[Jozef]

Coincidentally, I read a review and a description of an interesting book today. I already ordered the book, named Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy. Part of the book is about an extensive research done on the European-style health warnings on cigarette boxes, which consists either of scary health warnings or graphical pictures of organs affected by smoking. According to the results of this research, smokers are actually more attracted to having another cigarette after reading these warnings, instead of being deterred. I'm wondering how anti-smoking activists will spin that...

[Alice Bowie]

I like to smoke on occasions.
And, I'm happy with the band in restaurants, work places, public offices, airplanes, buses, etc. It makes sense to band them here.

They should allow BARS and places where people can smoke.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE should they BAND ANYTHING in the HOME. The next thing you know the SWAT TEAM will be showing up, knocking your door down, killing your dogs over a PALL MALL.

America's goin' down the TUBES...pretty soon, instead of buying cigarettes by the pack...we'll be buying it by the nickle bag...off the same guy selling, crack, herion, and PCP.

[Juanita]

Smoking isn't good for us. The government has a right and in fact an obligation to protect us from everything that is isn't good for us by banning it. Smoking should be made illegal in order to protect the children.

J

[Alice Bowie]

Juanita is a Troll.

[Helen Lovejoy]

Won't somebody please think of the children!

[New World Dan]

I think it's funny that people who won't smoke in their own homes or in front of company think it's ok to light up in someone else's resturaunt in front of people they don't know. Don't get me wrong, I think it should be legal, but these people are just assholes.

[Old World Stan]

I think it's funny that people who don't like other people smoking in front of them go to places where people tend to smoke.

[Calcium!]

I stopped smoking in my residence in the past 6 months. It is a personal choice, with the added benefit that me and my posessions generally smell much better. Oh and I agree with Juanita.

[Juanita]

I stopped smoking in my residence in the past 6 months.

Good for you, if everyone did that it wouldn't be necessary to ban tobbaco.

I think it's funny that people who don't like other people smoking in front of them go to places where people tend to smoke.

No one should smoke because it is unhealthy. If it was made illegal very few people would smoke.

[Jordan]

Alice Bowie | December 8, 2008, 10:55am |

ban

[ban] Show IPA Pronunciation
verb, banned, ban?ning, noun
-verb (used with object)
1. to prohibit, forbid, or bar; interdict: to ban nuclear weapons;

band

[band] Show IPA Pronunciation
-noun
1. a company of persons or, sometimes, animals or things, joined, acting, or functioning together; aggregation; party; troop: a band of protesters.

[troy]

The government has a right and in fact an obligation to protect us from everything that is isn't good for us by banning it.

There goes bacon.

I know, I know....don't feed the trolls.

[Jordan]

Doh. Forgot the 2nd link.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/band

[annoyed grunt]

But President-Elect Obama smokes

[Magnesium!]

There goes bacon.

No, that is a slippery slope arguement.

[Calcium!]

but Juanita, I go out in public to smoke instead. As taught in kindergarten, I prefer to share. It's not necessary to ban tobacco, it's necessary to ban alarmist imbeciles who would rather regulate something away than accept the reality that people are responsible for their own actions.

Wait, wtf am I saying? It is in the best interests of the subjects of the United States that the government prevent all that is deemed doubleplus ungood.

[Juanita]

Won't somebody please think of the children!

This

[Juanita]

But President-Elect Obama smokes

No more, he has changed his immoral behaviour.

Obama says he won't be smoking in office

[Not a slippery slope argument]

There goes trans-fats.

[Magnesium!]

Wait, wtf am I saying? It is in the best interests of the subjects of the United States that the government prevent all that is deemed doubleplus ungood.

Yes

[Jordan]

Where the hell is J sub D? Dude, your beloved is here!

[Lithium!]

It's not necessary to ban tobacco ...

I think the experts would beg to differ.

[Frank]

I see the smoking ban as a way to protect private property. When I go out for a beer and people are smoking around me, when I get home I either have to have my clothes dry cleaned or burned. Why should others be able to harm my property through their actions?

[Aluminum!]

I think the experts would beg to differ.

AGREED

[Calcium!]

More importantly, which is a better handle, Calcium! or Magnesium! ?

I used to prefer phalkor.

[annoyed grunt]

I see the smoking ban as a way to protect private property. When I go out for a beer and people are smoking around me

Uh, don't go to restaurants where people around you smoke.
Problem solved.

[Potassium!]

You guys aren't following the theme! Group I and II simple salt-forming metals only!

Get a brane, morans!!!

[New World Dan]

I think it's funny that people who don't like other people smoking in front of them go to places where people tend to smoke.

Yes, because a few assholes should be a public nuissance and drive off other people who want to have a good time. Regardless of the argument for private property rights, smoking in public is, at best, rude, anti-social behavior. I'm surprised there aren't more bars that voluntarily cater to non-smokers. If there had been one back in my university days, I would have gone there exclusively.

[Frank]

Uh, don't go to restaurants where people around you smoke.
Problem solved.

I didn't say restaurant. I said "out for a beer". So, let's say a pub.

Did you know that pub is short for public house? These were considered public places at one time. So, if I want to go out for a beer at a pub, I have to allow others to harm my property? It's that or stay home?

[Jordan]

Did you know that pub is short for public house? These were considered public places at one time. So, if I want to go out for a beer at a pub, I have to allow others to harm my property? It's that or stay home?

Yes. Are all the mean little cars that drive by you, spewing exhaust, harming your property too? Stop crying.

[AHnold]

Hey! Stop Whining!

[Frank]

Are all the mean little cars that drive by you, spewing exhaust, harming your property too?

No because I do not have to have my clothes dry cleaned after a car goes by.

I'm not crying. Merely asking questions. The ad hominems here are great, though.

[Frank]

Those of you who espouse freedom sure love to tell others to be silent.

[annoyed grunt]

You aren't forced to stay home. Simply don't go to an establishment where you expect there to be smoking.
You don't have to stay home, just have to make some adjustments to your expectations. Everyone else seems to. The world does not revolve around you.

[Frank]

Simply don't go to an establishment where you expect there to be smoking.

Easier said than done.

The world does not revolve around you.

Never claimed it did.

It doesn't revolve around bartenders, either. But I suppose they have the free will to leave the profession and find other work if they don't want to inhale vast quantities of smoke.

Anyway, this becomes a moot point in my state after the 1st.

[annoyed grunt]

Simply don't go to an establishment where you expect there to be smoking.

Easier said than done.

Easier to get the State to make the decision for you, I suppose

[R C Dean]

I see the smoking ban as a way to protect private property. When I go out

Back in the Olde Days, when people gave a shit about personal responsibility, this was known as Comynge to ye Nuisance, for which no injury could be claimed.

Simply don't go to an establishment where you expect there to be smoking.

Easier said than done.

These days, its a hell of a lot easier than finding a place where I can enjoy a cigar with my libations.

[Jordan]

It doesn't revolve around bartenders, either. But I suppose they have the free will to leave the profession and find other work if they don't want to inhale vast quantities of smoke.

Yes, they do.

[(S)-3-(1-Methyl-2-pyrrolidinyl]

Elements are stupid.

[American Public]

Except the deficit, because fuck those little needy bastards.

We can't be expected to pay attention to something as abstract as the deficit. And doesn't it involve like math?

[Bork]

Frank said: "I see the smoking ban as a way to protect private property. When I go out for a beer and people are smoking around me, when I get home I either have to have my clothes dry cleaned or burned. Why should others be able to harm my property through their actions?"

If you walk into a bar where you know the owner allows smoking and people are in fact smoking, and you sit down and stay for a beer or two or three, your inhalation of secondhand smoke is just as voluntary as the smoker's act of puffing on the end of a cigarette. In such a case, breathing in secondhand smoke and having clothes that smell like tobacco smoke is something you do to yourself, not something anyone else does to you. Take responsibility for your own choices and actions.

You cannot vindicate private property rights by banning others from exercising them.