Category: Politics

Tonight I met my brothers and my friend Snooks at my favorite pub, Moon & Sixpence, for what will be my last chance smoking inside. Last night I met Snooks at Kennedy School, tonight it’s Moon. It’s my ‘farewell tour’.

The photo pretty much sums up how I feel about the situation.

Ever since the law passed (a year and a half ago) I’ve been a little angry about it. Not just because of the smoking ban itself, but because of how it was passed and the hypocrisy of a giant, gaping loophole.

The law was passed by the Oregon legislature, and wasn’t put to a public vote. Those kinds of laws always piss me off a little anyway, just on principle. It’s not that a proposal to ban smoking in bars wouldn’t have passed (however the failed proposal to increase cigarette taxes just six months prior makes me think that even non-smokers aren’t vote-zombies when it comes to anything related to smoking), it probably would have passed. However, what would have certainly raised some questions has been my biggest issue with this bullshit law: cigar bars are exempt. Apparently, the vast amounts of smoke; the strong, musty, thick plumes of particles that are pumped out of cigars, are NOT harmful to Oregon bar employees. Nope. Nosirree.

At one point I asked an employee of one of Kennedy School’s bars (that tomorrow will be a cigar bar) if cigarettes will be allowed. He said no, and that he’d be responsible for playing bad cop and telling smokers to put out their cigarettes, while others continued to puff away on their cigars. If that doesn’t make you ardent anti-smokers angry, it fucking well should.

This new law was trotted out as a big, happy, “flowers and puppies” public health win, Oregon bar workers no longer had to suffer at their chosen place (and line) of work.  But apparently their health is only a top concern as long as they don’t work in the kinds of places that rich, white politician-types like to frequent. You know, a place where they can suck on a big fat turd and drink whiskey. In that case, Oregon bar workers, fill up them lungs with cigar smoke and deal. What’s worse, is that most articles about the ban forget to mention this exemption. Interesting omission.

Public vote or not, there would always be part of a ban like this that I will never agree with, the state is taking business decisions out of business owners hands. Last Sunday’s Oregonian front-page article about the ban says, and I quote “Oregon officials tout that most bars and restaurants already ban smoking.” This tells me that the system has been working exactly like it should. If business owners realize that they can make more money by catering to smokers/non-smokers, they run their business accordingly. Regarding workplace safety, obviously (as I mentioned above) that only counts if you aren’t stepping on the vices of those who pass laws. Besides, not all bar employees are happy about it either. I’ve asked employees at the places I frequent, and while a few were looking forward to it, most others weren’t. Some said it all came down to choice. Several of the workers I spoke to over the year were also smokers, and chose to work in a smoking establishment. To quote Leisa Vierling from the Oregonian article, “it should be a choice where we want to work”. Amen.

I never went into coal mining, or logging, or deep-sea fishing because I deemed it too dangerous. I don’t drink and drive because it’s too dangerous (and stupid). Hell, I don’t drink hard liquor because for me, it’s dangerous. It’s all part of being a grown-up. It’s called making choices. I choose to smoke. I know it’s bad for me, no smoker has any illusion about that. But I enjoy it, and I especially enjoy a smoke when I’m having a beer or two. Hell, even non-smokers enjoy the occasional smoke when drinking. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had non-smokers (even those who’d give me shit about my smoking) bum a smoke from me after they’ve had a few. Bar owners know that people smoke when they drink. For some bar owners, there’s significant financial incentive to allow smoking in their establishments. And now, they can’t make that choice. It’s been made for them.

I wish bars and taverns luck. Non-smokers already had options, and unless there’s a whole army of non-smokers who’d never gone out before the ban, and they suddenly come sweeping into your now-smoke-free establishments, things could get tight.

Given the current economic climate, with everybody tightening their purse strings, us smokers were just handed one less reason to go out.

Speaking of which, I need to order another keg. 🙂