Can't I live anywhere without someone imposing a smoking ban?

As an only occasional smoker (celebratory cigars) and only temporary Chicago resident, I'm not the one most affected by the ban. But neither are the ban's primary supporters: nonsmokers who — as I've observed before — tend to worry more about getting the smell of smoke on their clothes than any potential health hazards.

Yes, potential: Smoking is bad bad bad, but the science on secondhand smoke is a lot iffier. At worst, we seem to be talking about the difference between a 1 in 80,000 chance of dying of lung cancer, and a 1 in 100,000 chance. In the words of Jacob Sullum:

[S]upport for the ban probably had little to do with the possible long-term health effects of secondhand smoke. It's hard to believe there are many people who sit in smoky bars and worry that, if they stay there for 30 years, their tiny risk of lung cancer might increase slightly.

Thank goodness we have the government to make using this perfectly legal substance more difficult and force businesses to do what they never would have done on their own.

Strange, isn't it, that there aren't a plethora of smoke-free bars already? I mean, if people really care so much you'd think one bar would declare itself smoke-free and take all the business?

What did that banner in Appleton say after the ban passed? "The smoke is gone and so is my business. Smoking ban supporters, where are you now"?

O, what revealed preference can teach us.

Of course, if there were smoke-free bars, I'd probably just tell ban supporters to make their own decisions and leave the rest of us alone.

As one of the apparent minority of nonsmokers who've come to actually enjoy the smell of a smoke-filled bar, I get pretty frustrated by these attempts to push smokers out into the cold. The only thing more frustrating is knowing that there are actually smokers who will support this ban, as they did in New York, because it makes it easier for them to quit. Get a spine.

It's hard to sum up the many negative feelings I have towards the ban, towards the very idea of a ban. As Jubb so succinctly put it when we were fighting the good fight with the pro-smoking minority at Lawrence: "It's repressive." This could very well be my hot button issue.

Let there be no mistake: in two or three years when the ban goes into effect for bars (it affects other businesses almost immediately), there'll be no stopping it. They say this will be a test period, but even laws with explicit sunset provisions are rarely allowed to lapse � years from now smokers and their supporters will still be in the minority, beaten down by the fragile sensibilities of the larger public.