Smoking ban in Ohio -- a report

[stepay]

So, I played a gig Friday with my band (my last scheduled gig with them; may play with them down the road, but for now I'm done as a regular; too much work for me right now) in Pickerington, OH. Friday was the first day of the state-wide smoking ban.

 

Didn't matter.

 

They were smoking as much as ever. Place was packed. People loved the music. It was a good time.

 

So, at least on day one, the ban had no effect.

[kad]

We did a corporate Christmas party last night. The smokers simply stepped outside to take care of business.

[niacin]

smoking ban here too as of december 1st. Not a bad time to introduce it really. Folks are still gonna go to their xmas parties and they'll just step outside as kad said, and after a month of doing so will be pretty much used to it. So no noticeable downturn here either. I don't see any real problem except for chain smokers.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

niacin ...australian changes

 

I thought the main ban was coming in july next year.

but I did hear of part of it coming in this xmas

can you tell me more.

 

As you may have read previously i mentioned I had to quit playing venues because my lungs are totally scarred and the smoke made me very sick...in fact on this friday just gone I was told by my lung specialist that he is preparing to prep me in 3 to 5 years for a double lung transplant [based on the deteriation he sees in my lungs over a period of time im roughly 50% capacity]...I find it hard to believe and want to prove him wrong...

 

I was planing on going back to gigging in july next year when smoking was totally banned but is it actually banned this december....hoping to hear from you about this...thanks mate.

I hear conflicting stories on whats really happening.

[alman]

AussieKeys, I think it's different state to state. New South Wales currently has legislation in place so that only one area of the venue is for smoking. I think in 2008, it will change to the whole venue (including pokies room). Of course, that will only happen in NSW. As for other states, I wouldn't have a clue.

[BonsoWonderDog]

In Queensland now it's illegal to smoke anywhere (indoor or outdoor) where food or drink is served or consumed. This means most pubs/clubs/venues inside and outside areas too.

 

In addition there's a ban on smoking within 4 metres of the entrance to a building.

 

Also, public beaches, sporting events, the list goes on.

 

As a 10 year smoker only quit 4 months ago I have mixed feelings. I'm happy to not have to see/smell people smoke all the time, but I feel for the smokers huddled out on the street like lepers.....

[AUSSIEKEYS]

thanks guys

somehow we never know whats, what here...but I guess I'll still head towards july 07.

 

Its noted that local clubs [sydney] are building terraces for smokers..so I believe here its no indoor smoking but allowed outdoors.

 

Although i'll bet the clubs will blur the idea of outdoors.

 

Well as long as I can play again,It should be fine..although in july will there be less duo work or more.

 

Will clubs be smart and employ more muso's as drawcards or stingy and reduce the music to cut costs as they will experience an intitial drop in revenue.

 

Once music was the drawcard, to say this club is the one you should visit.

But times change, it would be great if this again became the way.

[NYKeys]

Were was it at? I am going to call the smoke Po Po

[Jim Alfredson]

I wish they would ban smoking in Michigan.

[kanker.]

Originally posted by B3-er:

I wish they would ban smoking in Michigan.

I wish they would ban Michigan, errr.....uh.....

 

Well, at least the BCS tried.

[delirium]

Hmmm, more and more bans in US, soon they will ban playing naked on Monday. What age we live in?

 

How about common sense and civilized behavior without the any whip hanging over your head?

[Joe Muscara]

Originally posted by delirium:

Hmmm, more and more bans in US, soon they will ban playing naked on Monday.

You mean I can play naked today?? The band has been telling me we couldn't.

[zxcvbnm098]

As someone from Californina, where we invented the smoking ban, I can tell you it will take a bit for everyone to completely comply. There are always folks that feel they need to take take a stand to protest what is an obvious (to them) infringement of their rights to smoke. Over a short amount of time though, it will subside, and you all will have what we here have enjoyed for a number of blissful years-a smokefree environment to dine in, drink in, and gig in. It's hard to remember what it was like before, but I thank God for the health of my kids and that they will never know what it was like before. If it isn't in your state yet, it will come sooner or later. For those of you that have to put up with smoke still, I sincerely hope it's sooner.

 

I always HATED smoking, even as a kid. After burying both parents due to lung cancer, hate just ain't a strong enough word.

[Prague]

Why don't you tell people, from the stage, that you don't want the smokers in the club? I mean, tell them up front that you don't like them at your gigs?

[Kekemapa]

As a singer..... well, what more can i say?!

[resigned]

My idiot state, South Carolina, hasn't done a state-wide smoking ban like our neighboring state Georgia has, so that leaves it up to individual counties and municipalities to come up with non-uniform regulations. The unincorporated areas of my county have a smoking ban but not the municipalities because each is debating who will be covered, how it will be enforced, who is exempt, etc. It's a mess.

 

In Georgia, there are cigar bars that can sell their tobacco products but you can't smoke them on the premises. I'm in favor of smoking bans in restaurants but that's a little silly.

[Phred]

Originally posted by Prague:

Why don't you tell people, from the stage, that you don't want the smokers in the club? I mean, tell them up front that you don't like them at your gigs?

Huh? Who ever said that they didn't want smokers in the club. All that is being discussed is that we don't want smokING in the club. Kind of a big difference if you ask me.

[Blue JC]

Originally posted by Prague:

Why don't you tell people, from the stage, that you don't want the smokers in the club? I mean, tell them up front that you don't like them at your gigs?

Oh gosh, I don't know. Maybe because I don't want to be fired - or shot?

[stepay]

Originally posted by Blue JC:

Originally posted by Prague:

Why don't you tell people, from the stage, that you don't want the smokers in the club? I mean, tell them up front that you don't like them at your gigs?

Oh gosh, I don't know. Maybe because I don't want to be fired - or shot?

Right there are the two reasons I'd never do it!

[Darren Landrum]

Well, getting shot is a form of getting fired, if you think about it.

[Joe Muscara]

Apparently, smoking is allowed in Prague.

[Prague]

Originally posted by Blue JC:

Originally posted by Prague:

Why don't you tell people, from the stage, that you don't want the smokers in the club? I mean, tell them up front that you don't like them at your gigs?

Oh gosh, I don't know. Maybe because I don't want to be fired - or shot?

Why would you get fired? You're only being truthful, as you are being truthful here. Besides, implementing a ban does force them out of the bar.

 

I mean, if they are causing death and destruction, shouldn't you tell them?

 

No guts, no glory.

[Bill H.]

If I tried a stunt like that in the bars I work in Oregon I'd be fired on the spot. Smokers are at least half the business, and they'e in Oregon because they can't smoke in the bars in Washington anymore.

[Prague]

Originally posted by Bill H.:

If I tried a stunt like that in the bars I work in Oregon I'd be fired on the spot. Smokers are at least half the business, and they'e in Oregon because they can't smoke in the bars in Washington anymore.

Too many people hide behind the ballot box to run someone's business, but won't step up to take the heat themselves.

 

Oregon is always smart to let other states send business their way. In Washington, everyone is running to the Indian Casinos (or Oregon, Idaho, and Canada) while the American bars are closing.

 

I thought I moved out of my parent's house.

[MidLifeCrisis]

Originally posted by Phred:

All that is being discussed is that we don't want smokING in the club.

Whats next? No drinking in clubs?

Nobody wants to put up with drunks do they?

As stupid as that may sound, when you let the government dictate what is acceptable, you open yourself up to the next round of conservatives wanting to ban public embibbing of deamon rum.

[Joe Muscara]

Conservatives? I don't think conservatives were behind the smoking bans.

 

Besides, smoking generally infringes on others rights. Smokers make non-smokers breathe their dirtied air, from near and afar. That's where these bans come from. Drunks only stink up the immediate area. Their acts don't necessarily infringe on other's rights, and when they do, they are (hopefully) held responsible. Smokers make non-smokers deal with their smoke no matter what.

 

If a smoker can smoke without non-smokers being affected, like with a mask or a bag over their head or something, go ahead, smoke all they want.

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the ban in Houston. When we visited Austin a couple of months ago, it was great to go out and not come home stinky, and be able to breathe all night.

[niacin]

Originally posted by AUSSIEKEYS:

niacin ...australian changes

 

I thought the main ban was coming in july next year.

but I did hear of part of it coming in this xmas

can you tell me more.

 

As you may have read previously i mentioned I had to quit playing venues because my lungs are totally scarred and the smoke made me very sick...in fact on this friday just gone I was told by my lung specialist that he is preparing to prep me in 3 to 5 years for a double lung transplant [based on the deteriation he sees in my lungs over a period of time im roughly 50% capacity]...I find it hard to believe and want to prove him wrong...

 

I was planing on going back to gigging in july next year when smoking was totally banned but is it actually banned this december....hoping to hear from you about this...thanks mate.

I hear conflicting stories on whats really happening.

Hey AUSSIEKEYS, looks like the guys have filled you in. In the ACT terraces have been built and outdoor areas installed. I think bringing it in as xmas parties get underway was a great idea as folks are still gonna go out at this time of year regardless. Not so sure about July which would be a bit quiet anyway. And good luck with your lungs. Hope everything works out for you.

[soundscape]

Originally posted by Joe Muscara:

Smokers make non-smokers breathe their dirtied air, from near and afar.

While I'm not disagreeing... as I posted in a previous thread:

 

===================

 

Maybe carpets should be banned...

 

"Carpets harbour 'toxic dust'"

 

 

[ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1310818.stm ]

 

 

Then again...

 

"In 1970, [snip] the Swedish Government banned the use of carpet in all public facilities. [snip] During the next 17 years, carpet sales declined more than 75%, while the sale of hard surface flooring materials increased significantly. By the late 1980's, hard floors made up a significant portion of all flooring materials in Sweden. Unfortunately, the incidence of reported allergy symptoms among Swedes increased proportionally with the use of hard flooring materials. The incidence of allergy complaints among Swedes increased more than 300% during this 17-year carpet ban... [snip] some Swedes began to blame hard surfaces for the increase in allergic disease because hard surfaces do not provide the capability to trap particles and prevent their airborne release."

 

[ http://www.carpetbuyershandbook.com/airborne_particles.htm ]

 

===================

 

You may also care to check out the particulates that spew out of a badly serviced diesel vehicle. In fact, there are all sorts of negative externalities (to use the economic term) that exist.

 

(BTW, IIRC household air quality is typically extremely poor. Yet, it doesn't get much coverage.)

[MidLifeCrisis]

Originally posted by Joe Muscara:

Drunks only stink up the immediate area. Their acts don't necessarily infringe on other's rights, and when they do, they are (hopefully) held responsible.

Boy you haven't been to many bars have you?

Drunks get into fights, vomit everywhere, and generally tend to be disgusting.

 

Ask a parent whose child has been killed by a drunk driver if holding the drunk responsible helped eased their pain.

[soundscape]

If you've known anyone with alcoholism, you know how destructive it can be.

 

Of course... drink driving is illegal.

 

OTOH... ever driven when wayyy too tired for it? I've fallen asleep at the wheel before. If it wasn't for the rumble strip on the shoulder line, I wouldn't have woken up! Of course I pulled over at the first service area and had a good nap for a couple of hours.