People get a little stupid about this topic.  Most business and many restaurants have voluntarily gone smoke free.  I don’t know about bars, because I have not hit the bar scene in many years.  I’m sure if the market is there bars will go smoke free and use it as an advertising gimmick.

This is more about some people’s overwhelming desire to control the behavior of other people and smokers are an easy target these days.  Next it will be overweight people, then people that have a problem with flatulence.  It’s always something…..

doug, your relationship of age versus rights is way off base, the issue is whether the government should be allowed to regulate all aspects of peoples lives, which is what these bills lead to. There are certain laws put into place to protect the public, i/e dui/ age limits.  But to tell stores, bars, and restaurants that smoking is outlawed is wrong.  Why not let these establishments decide on their own which direction to take? Maybe offer them an incentive of some kind, tax deductions, business license fee reduction.

Doug - That is a lousy argument.  If the state wants to give up the tax dollars on tobacco and alcohol, they can outlaw it like other drugs.  Both probably kill more people each year than weed.

The issue has to do with an adult having the freedom to do as they please within the law.  It also has to do with a business doing as it pleases within the confines of the law.

BamaBob, if the age can be regulated, why not the use?

The government should try to save as many lives as possible. I want to be protected from secondhand smoke as much as possible, wherever it may be.

dougstech - What does one issue have to do with the other?  Tobacco and alcohol are not illegal.  They are regulated.  Alabama brings several million dollars (over 300 million) in excise and sales tax on tobacco products each year to the state.  Very little of that goes into cessation programs.  In fact, Alabama is ranked 48th with that endeavor.

But, some people want to pretend they smell cigarette smoke coming from a car next to them on the road over all the other fumes coming from all other cars and 18-wheelers and buses on the road.  Yeah right!  Just something else people feel safe complaining about, since they can’t complain about religion, race, creed, or color anymore.

Wait4Me, you too are saying its the right of a minor to use tobacco products?

Apples to oranges doug,  If we allow these kind of bills to pass we will have given up another piece of our freedom.  What would be next.  And doug I dont smoke, I did and quit, but I do not believe giving the government the right to run our lives is going to be the answer.  when we give freely our rights, the government WILL take freely our rights.

Bob, do you agree with the minimum tobacco age?

Do you think the legislation should be lifted on that?

southfan1981 - Have you ever pulled up behind a transit bus and then get covered with a cloud of black diesel fumes?  Do you want all the transit buses off the road?

Have you ever walked out on a fall day and the neighborhood was filled with the smell of burning leaves?  Do you want everyone to be forced to mulch leaves and pay to have them hauled away?

There is a very long list of offensive odors we face every day an we deal with it.  We don’t legislate ourselves into a police state.

I don’t think there are many work places that allow smoking within the building.  Many restaurants no longer have smoking sections on a voluntary basis.  If there was a big demand for smoke free bars, then there would be plenty of smoke free bars.

This legislating every aspect of a person’s life stinks worse than a little smoke.