The Voice

The time has come: a statewide smoking ban called the “Georgia Smokefree Air Act of 2005,” is working its way to becoming a law. Right now it’s parked on Governor Perdue’s desk, waiting for his signature that could put the ban in effect July 1.

Even though Perdue said he’ll heavily consider the opinion of Dr. Don Thomas, the Dalton Republican who backed the bill, as well as the vote of the General Assembly, he said his final decision has not yet been made.

“I am very concerned once again, as I said at the State of the State, about government being the end-all and be-all nanny for all people,” Perdue told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

It may not be a “nanny,” but the bill provides an interesting statistical base for the ban-which is really an effort to protect non-smokers and employees who work in smoking establishments.

We suggest reading the full bill online, but basically, the Assembly finds that smoking is bad for you and the people around you-especially elderly people, children and the people who work in a smoking environment.

This ban would conclusively end smoking in pretty much every public indoor place where students smoke, including, but definitely not limited to, bars. To the General Assembly, “bar” means “an establishment that is devoted to the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption by guests on the premises and in which the serving of food is only incidental to the consumption of those beverages, including, but not limited to, taverns, nightclubs, cocktail lounges, and cabarets.”

Luckily for smokers who enjoy lighting up with their meals, a couple of amendments were added to the final bill that would allow smoking in restaurants and bars that deny employment and access to anyone under the age of 18 and restaurants with private rooms with air handling systems that are “independent from the main air handling system that served all other areas of the building and all air within the private room is exhausted directly to the outside by an exhaust fan of sufficient size.”

It seems like Capital City would be one of the only places in town where students could smoke inside unless others decided to start carding everyone that entered to make sure they were over 18.

Most of our staff doesn’t smoke and some of us have worked in smoking establishments. While we applaud the ban, we side with Perdue-let’s not get out of hand with this one. Hurting yourself is one thing, but as philosopher John Stuart Mill said, “Your right to swing your fist ends where my face begins.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 8 2005. Filed under Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry