Michigan Senate passes smoking ban!!!!!!
 

"LANSING, Mich. -- A long-delayed smoking ban passed the Michigan Senate on Thursday, allowing exceptions for three Detroit casinos that have to compete with tribal casinos not affected by the ban.

A similar ban already has passed the House, which is expected to agree with slight changes made by the Senate. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said she will sign the bill.

The ban passed would take effect in May 2010. It applies to all bars, restaurants and work places, with exceptions for the Detroit casinos, cigar bars, tobacco specialty stores, home offices and motor vehicles.

An attempt to pass a full ban with no exceptions as the Senate did last year failed." Link


Boooo! Yes, sure, healthier.. yes, sure, I need to and will quit eventually...

Brad

Wow, I had no idea there were still states who haven't banned smoking in bars/restaurants.

Good.. Ca, AZ, WA already did it. It should be the smokers who
sit their ass outside. Not the majority of non smokers!

My 2cents!

i'm thinking the gov is prob worried about lawsuits from non-smokers who have to work in places that have second hand smoke.

I always hated going to bars and restaurants, and then come home with stinky hair and clothes from cig smoke. Gross!

Jimmy

nothing like a cloud of nasty smoke in your face when your trying to hang out at a restraunt. glad they decided to catch up

less cancer its a blessing

I enjoy an occasional smoke but I agree with banning it in places where most people do not smoke. :2 cents:

Yes!!!!!

Smoking is retarted anyways

I question the premise that it'll be better for casino business to allow smoking. Surely there are far more people who would be attracted to a cleaner casino than there are smokers who would not go because of the ban. I think the casino's made a mistake there.

heh you dont know addicts very well :)

hint , people who gamble all the time ( addicts ) are usually more addicted to other things.

Or it could be the casino's paid millions of dollars to get an exemption because they are idiots out to hurt their own business' :)

Great news. I have lived in BC and CA my entire life, and both have had smoking bans in effect. It's been nice and I have been spoiled by not being given cancer.

NC's ban goes into effect 2 January.

Though we have an exception for "private" bars and nightclubs, which most of them are. I'm curious to see what will happen.

i love going to smoke free bars and restaurants

the whole indian reservation competition thing is total bs. they dont want people to take breaks from gambling. if someone is on a slot machine for 10 hours straight spending all their $, if they have to stop every 30 minutes to smoke outside not only is it going to make them not lose as much $ but they might stop completely and go home during or after their smoke break.

I smoked for over 30 years. When they banned smoking in the bars and restaurants here, there were also lots of people who feared loss of business who turned out just fine. There's casino's here, but only on indian reservations. While smoking is allowed in them, they've been expanding the non-smoking sections. Must be a reason.

I know the idea is to try to allow things in the casino that they dont allow in other places to draw people in. I'm not trying to say thats a bad idea to persue, only that smoking might not be where they're going to see more money, certainly not in the long term.

and people wonder why I hate living here lol

when will they ban smoking outside?

-Loki-

all bullshit...

so how is the ban in cars? i understand bars, places to eat, yada yada but how do they ban you from smoking in your own car

Hard to believe it isn't banned in all public places already.

"Land of the Free!"

LOL

Cant you read? It doesnt apply to cars.

They should fix the school system in Detroit before worrying about smoking...here is a cut and paste from today's news paper

"This week, Detroit learned it finished only ahead of Puerto Rico in the National Assessment of Education Progress math tests for fourth- and eighth-graders. Its scores were the lowest ever posted in the United States. One education expert noted that Detroit's students likely could have guessed at the answers and scored higher"

as a smoker who lives in california, I think it's silly to be allowed to smoke in restaurants and other public places. the ban here didn't seem to hurt the bar scene from what I could tell.

I love non-smoking rules in public places. So nice to go out and not come home smelling like smoke.

They should have it as a fucking option. If a bar wants to allow smokers, let non-smokers go elsewhere and vice versa.

:thumbsup

bear in mind cigarette is dangerous to our health

We've had a smoking ban here for over two years now.

Lots of things are dangerous to our health. Should the government ban everything that affects our health negatively?

Should McDonald's be banned from selling fatty burgers? Why can't the customer decide which products they will purchase and use?

You have to realize that we are losing personal liberties here. I am a nonsmoker and even I realize that.

That's different. When someone decides to smoke around you, as a non-smoker, they are making a decision for you. No one is making you buy "fatty burgers".

yeah and what happens is these same bars and restaurants build patios and smoking areas for their smoking customers.. its more than fair to non-smokers.. but half the time I end up in smoking area bcuz my peeps are out there.. so I'm second-hand-smoking a pack a day sometimes.

At the end of the day, this will save me several cigarettes a day. No different than when I travel, I'll make due and this is a good thing for everyone's health so I'm not really complaining. I just wish there was an exception for strip clubs and bars with limited food service.

Brad

Been like that in CA for a while now --- and you know what the next move was? To start banning it OUTDOORS too. First beaches and parks, then sidewalks in many towns --- and now the push is to eliminate the OUTDOOR smoking areas at restaurants, where they exiled smokers in the first place.

If they think they can ban it completely - then they should go for it.
But that's not what they do - they just keep legislating incrementally, trying to ban it little by little while *claiming* they're trying to be fair to everyone.

They want to ban smoking. But they don't have the balls to say it (or to give up the tax revenue).

(I have no axe to grind here, I've quit and don't care about smoking areas anymore. What I *do* care about is hypocrisy.)

Thats going to suck for smokers in Michigan in the (next)winter. The cig's will stick to their lips...pfff

bcs if you chose smoking you would hurt others.

thats a bust. i;m goin back to florida again.

it has been banned around her for a while now :thumbsup

Smoking in public places (bars, restaurants and so on), have been banned in the northeast for years. It really doesnt bother people much. Its a way of life you get use to. Its nice to be in a restaurant and not breathing smoke. The only time it sucks is in the dead of winter when its freezing cold... Then it really sucks.

And my husband and I both smoke. We even smoke outside at home.

about time someone stepped in and stopped the poisoning of the innocent and unborn.

So they should have done a long time ago.been smoking for about 30 years now.The reefer wont ever stop .probably die with one in my hand . tried quitting cigs a few times a year at a time.it will kill me eventually.funny how people are willing to waste 10 bucks a pack to kill themselves.If the government was concerned about the health care issues and suing tobacco companies ,they would have banned cigarettes years ago

i'm of out whiskey and canada is too damn cold.