From the 03 January 2007 Washington Post Editorial page. For those of you who have an account, click Fumeless. For those who don't, here is a copy of the article.
NIGHTS OUT in Washington just got a whole lot healthier: The District's long-awaited smoking ban in bars and clubs finally took effect on Tuesday.Predictably, not everyone is happy about it. As in other localities that have considered smoking bans, jittery bar and club owners fought the restrictions when the D.C. Council debated them a year ago. They continue to complain that the ban will hurt the city's hospitality industry as smokers take their business to Virginia, which does not enforce a smoking ban. Former mayor Anthony A. Williams considered vetoing the ban last year on those grounds. But other cities' experiences with bans even more restrictive than the District's suggest a different outcome.
In New York City, bars and restaurants have flourished since smoking was banned. Surveys in the city have shown that residents are now more likely to go out. Tax revenue from the hospitality sector there has increased, as has demand for new liquor licenses. Studies in other localities confirm that smoking bans have little effect on, or even increase, bar and restaurant revenue.
The health benefits of smoking bans, meanwhile, are enormous. The American Heart Association published a study late last year on Pueblo, Colo., which found that emergency room visits for heart attacks dropped 27 percent in the first 18 months of that city's smoking ban. No such drop occurred in adjoining jurisdictions. Across the country and around the world, the weight of public health research has shown that smoking bans save the lives of both customers and hospitality employees.
So here's an invitation to Northern Virginia's beer nursers, clubbers, nighthawks and other assorted bar patrons. If you'd prefer a night out that won't leave your hair and clothes smelling like ash -- and your lungs and blood vessels filled with toxins -- take a trip across the Potomac. Until, that is, Virginia's politicians come around to approving a smoking ban of their own.
I endorse the opinion of the writer. My only question is...
What the hell is a "beer nurser"??