San Francisco felt like it was falling behind in the race to have the biggest nanny state (seriously, that was the motivation, read the article), so the city is considering two new anti-smoking ordinances, including one that would ban smoking even in tobacco shops:
Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed prohibiting tobacco sales in pharmacies, including Walgreens and Rite Aid. The city’s public health chief said the proposal is modeled after rules in eight provinces in Canada but has not been tried anywhere in the United States.
Supervisor Chris Daly has proposed legislation that would vastly limit areas where people can smoke.
Gone would be smoking in all businesses and bars, which now make an exception for owner-operated ones.
Gone too would be lighting up in taxicabs and rental cars, city-owned vehicles, farmers’ markets, common areas of apartment buildings, tourist hotels, tobacco shops, charity bingo games, unenclosed dining areas, waiting areas such as lines at an ATM or movie theater, and anywhere within 20 feet of entrances to private, nonresidential buildings.
And you thought they’d stop at protecting bar and restaurant workers. No, this is about hatred of smokers and wanting to make life as miserable for them as possible, casting them out to the edges of society. And every time we reach a new normal, they’ll extend the bans even farther.
[Via Radley.]
Previously:
Banzhaf crosses the line
Jacob Grier is a freelance writer, barista, mixologist, and magician in Portland, OR. He writes, eats, and drinks a lot. His articles have appeared in The Washington Post, Reason Online, The Oregonian, and other publications.
Follow me on Twitter
It’s funny, but I NEVER see anyone in San Francisco smoking. I don’t know whether it’s because 1) no one smokes because everyone is an environmentalist yuppie, or 2) no one is allowed to smoke anywhere I would actually see them, but the lack of smoking is extremely pervasive and noticeable to someone who is new to the city.
Then the other night, Jeanette and I went to an indie rock show, and as we approached the club, from about fifty yards away we saw a large mass of people clustered around the entrance in a disorderly fashion. I said to Jeanette, “What are all of those people doing? Do you think the show is over already?” Then I noticed some smoke in the air over the crowd. “Was there a fire in the club? How weird!” And then once we got closer, “Ohhhhh, those are just all the hipsters smoking.”
On a side note, this represents two of your favorite hobbies that are overtaken, in some subset of “the popular mind,” by hipsters.
Damn it. If hipsters start doing card tricks, I am totally screwed.