Thursday, December 04, 2003

Amazing: In Washington, DC, the city council may be on the verge of making a good decision. Instead of enacting an all-out smoking ban, elected officials are leaning towards providing tax incentives for businesses to voluntarily become smoke free.

What would likely happen in such a situation is some bars and restaurants would ban smoking -- attracting those who can't stand smoke -- while others could let their patrons smoke tobacco in peace.

As I've mentioned before, a neighboring county in Maryland enacted an all-out smoking ban, which has nearly emptied its bars and restaurants as the smokers drove a few miles to visit the bars in DC. City Council officials worry that if DC bans all smoking in the city, smokers will simply travel a few more miles to Virginia.

P.S. South Park did a great job attacking the anti-smoking lobby in last night's episode.