In just more than two months, barring corrective action, Madison’s taverns will be disturbingly gripped by a counterproductive, anti-libertarian smoking ban.
This board has expressed extreme discontent with this pending ban as a whole as well as numerous peripheral issues disconcertingly raised by its proposed implementation. But one dilemma entirely paradoxical to the ban’s proposed benefits has gone largely unnoted of late: the ban will actually prove a public health problem.
Bars and law enforcement officers alike face the inherent constraint of having limited resources. Currently, taverns must dedicate no small modicum of attention to tending to potential brawls, keeping clientele from over-consuming and ensuring a general level of civility in a place patronized oftentimes for the explicit purpose of testing the normal limits of civility.
When bar owners and employees are forced to transform into the ashtray Gestapo to avoid lofty fines from police officers enacting a whole new version of “Smokey and the Bandit,” attention will be inherently diverted away from other, more immediate and crucial concerns for tavern patrons’ welfare.
While bar fights and over-consumption pose immediate health risks to the beer purchasing public, the detriments of second-hand smoke – the supposed guiding rationale behind the ban – are long-term, far from inevitable and, yes, smoky.
Moreover, crowds of drunk smokers elbow to elbow at the bar’s front door is a prime recipe for liquor-induced fighting. Indeed, it is in the best interest of bar owners and patrons alike for all available resources to be directed toward preventing these already-established risks and not spent confiscating Joe Camel’s hindquarters.
But this is merely one serious issue facing the soon-to-be-implemented smoking ban. Other heavy problems abound, as this board has taken — and will continue to take — great efforts to illustrate.
With a new City Council now seated and business back at hand, it is time for alders to come together and actually do something in the best interests of all of Madison’s pub patrons: repeal the smoking ban.
Originally written By: Badger Herald
Editorial Board
