The Linear Canvas

I was living in the Toledo, Ohio area when the city council there approved the smoking ban in 2003. I heard and saw the same debate that I now see in the Columbus area news. There were threats that bars and restaurants would close and those customers were being forced to drive or move to other areas so they could smoke. One Toledo bar owner complained in a front-page newspaper story that yes, maybe, more non-smokers would start coming to her bar, but non-smokers would leave by midnight to go home. Only smokers would stay until the bar closed at 2:30AM. Just a few days later a bar customer, said that since he couldn’t smoke in a Toledo bar, he and his friends would start frequenting bars in surrounding communities more often that did allow smoking. When a bar went out of business within days of the ban, smoking advocates pointed to it as an example of this law’s devastating effect.

Maybe I am the only one that thinks this anymore, but if less people stayed out drinking until 2:30 AM and didn’t drive home drunker than they would have been at midnight, I would say that’s better, not worse. How many lives and marriages could be saved if bar patrons went home earlier?

Now, disgruntled bar patrons threaten they will be leaving the city and driving more miles impaired, subjecting them to a greater chance of being pulled over by police, just so they can smoke a product that is killing them. The truth about bars is that any person that leaves one is probably incapable of passing a breath analyzer test. I would not be surprised if Columbus police start setting up checkpoints leading in from these suburban communities.

There is a call now for a vote to exempt bars from the smoking ban. One bar I drove past in Toledo back then had a message on its sign that suggested that people register to vote to overturn the no smoking law. Clearly, that is the one good suggestion that can come out of this whole thing. As a non-smoker, occasional beer drinker, and voter, I welcome all bar patrons to join the democratic process. I don’t have much of an opinion about whether a bar should have smoking allowed or not. Just keep it out of the places where I am and where I would go. In addition, keep your impaired driving to a minimum. That’s all I want.