Bite Me

Smoke Free or Die

A A A Comments By Jason Sheehan Thursday, Dec 5 2002

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Is smoking bad for you? Sure it is. And it'll probably kill you. But the world is a dangerous, vile and unsanitary place just chock-full of things that are bad for you. Is smoking wrong? No. Try to tell me different and you're in for a fight. Should the state step in and try to interfere in the affairs of honest, hardworking businesspeople already struggling in a crummy economy, in an industry tangled with rules and regulations, where the margin between a good night and a bad one -- between being able to make payroll and not -- can be as thin as a dozen dinners? Hell, no. Because handing over to anyone the power to legislate morality is not just a slippery slope; it's a frozen fucking water slide, and all the bad guys are wearing ice skates.

"What you really have to ask yourself," Doyle says, "is do you believe the science?" You know what? I don't. I no longer believe anyone's science, because all the conveniently bite-sized statistics and sound bites drawn out of that science are too easily corrupted. For now, I'll believe in freedom of choice, freedom from regulation and the freedom of the market to find its own level.

Matthew Strauss

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But that's just my opinion. Got one of your own? A second public forum on the potential smoking ban is set for 6 to 9 p.m. on December 5 at St. Dominic Church, 3005 West 29th Avenue. Or, of course, you can always e-mail your rants, screeds, letters of support or death threats directly to me here at Bite Me World Headquarters, care of jason.sheehan@westword.com.

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