Hmph!

No smoking. No problem...right?

So last night as my eldest brother, Jayk, my dad, and myself were sitting around a nice bonfire getting a good buzz going, the subject of the new smoking ban law in Minneapolis came up. There are so many sublevels to this subject, but in my opinion the whole thing is ridiculous. Yes I am a smoker.

If tobacco is not an illegal drug, then why are they able to ban people from using it in a public establishment? They can tax the shit out of tobacco products so the government can make its fair share off of it, but then they're going to ban people from smoking in bars, restaurants, etc? That's bull shit. Yes second hand smoke is bad. Smoking is bad period. Here's one example of why this new law is retarded:

After a night of tying a good drunk on, my eldest brother and some of his buddies go to The Uptown Bar (which is now all non-smoking) to get some bloody mary's and shoot the shit. Literally. My brother has one of the foulest mouths out of anyone I've met and I can only imagine what him and his friends were talking about.

So anyway, as they were shooting the shit so to speak my brother looks over next to him and there were children with their parents at the bar. Not teenage, but young children were sharing the bar with my brother.

Now, it's not so bad since it was a Sunday morning, versus a Friday or Saturday night, but the thought of kids at the bar is insane. The parents feel ok about it because their kids aren't exposed to the second hand smoke. Great, fine, but seriously, a bar regardless of what day it is, is not a place for kids.

Secondly, and back to my original point, how can they make it illegal to use a certain drug in certain places? Are they going to start regulating where people take shits too? The governments in many states are adhering to this new fad law, and it's so unjust. Just like they made laws for certain establishments to obtain a liquor license to serve alcohol, so people could choose if they wanted to be in that environment, they should have just let tobacco be the same way.

Why not let people make decisions on where they want to frequent. If there is a restaurant that allows smoking in a section, sit in the non-smoking section. Or just decide not to go there. There are plenty of other places to choose from without smoking. Just like smokers now decide if we can make it through a meal in a non-smoking environment.

Why, why must the government always be up our ass?