Just released research by Federal Reserve economist Dr. Michael Pakko shows the true business costs of smoking bans. This research shows that smoking bans do indeed hurt some businesses. Dr. Pakko urges lawmakers not
to adopt "a Pollyannaish outlook in which communities can achieve public health benefits with no economic consequences."
http://stlouisfed.org/publications/re/2008/a/pages/smoking-ban.html

Any bar or restaurant owner can ban smoking in his establishment as his employees and patrons demand all or part of the time his
establishment is open.

Even better, bar and restaurant owners can install air filtration machines that will not only remove tobacco smoke, but also viruses, bacteria,
chemicals, pollen, dust, mold, fungi and, most importantly, radon decay
products, which the EPA claims causes 21,000 lung cancer deaths per year, seven times more than secondhand smoke is reputed to cause. Commercial air
filtration machines are affordable and readily available. These are the
same machines that currently protect Virginia welders from much more dangerous smoke to OSHA safety standards, they can also protect Virginia bartenders from stray tobacco smoke.

http://www.air-quality-eng.com/tobacco.php

The best research has shown bar and restaurant smoking bans to be public health failures. They do not reduce the overall smoke exposure of nonsmokers, and, in fact, increase the smoke exposure of small children.

http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications.php?publication_id=3523

as a REAL Virginian born and raised in Richmond (aka not some NoVA transplant from some other opressive liberal state) I am sick and tired of all these whiners who keep trying to impose restrictions on me as an individual. Personally, i am an ex-smoker, who no longer smokes but does not mind smoking around me. Even if i DID mind the smoke, i wouldnt start campaigning for people to ban smoking. I would choose another establishment and take my business elsewhere. When you start taking away choices you are restricting peoples freedom. Just like how you might hate it when you are walking down a public street and hear someone spouting off racist beliefs and how we are all going to hades in a handbasket, you might not like it, but you WALK AWAY from it. why? because thats the persons God given right to be subversive. His freedom is protected by law. why should smokers be any different? just because someone deems something undesireable, doesnt mean its your right to BAN it. sure, if you want to offer incentives to get someone to sway your way fine, but DONT TAKE AWAY MY RIGHT TO CHOOSE. This is america, not iran. Nice to know we tramp all over the world trumpeting "freedom" and bringing democracy to the world - yet here at home our own personal freedom is being trampled on a daily basis.

And furthermore, all these studies about smoking and how it causes all these problems etc, yeah smoking is bad for you (although my great grandfather smoked a pack a day his entire adult life and lived to be 104 with no health problems whatsoever) but we also have to remember that correlation does not equal causation. People who smoke are also more likely to drink, have addictive personalities, eat less healthy, exercise less, have more stressful lives, etc. All of which contribute to bad health. so dont blame everything on smoking itself. Oh hes a smoker, that must have caused the heart attack! Ummm well how about the triple cheeseburger he ate every day? Or the lack of exercise?

AND - quite frankly whats next? Drinking causes liver damage, drunk driving, and leads to a whole slew of other socially un-desireable behavior (anyone been to a karaoke bar recently?). Ya gonna ban drinking in a bar next? How about all the 300+ pound people assaulting my eyes in restaurants around the country making me lose my appetite and affecting my health? Obesity is one of the number one health problems in this country. Gonna ban sugar and fat and carbs too? Banish all the fat people in the country outside to partake in their hostess cupcakes? Where does it end?

Stop trying to police my life. If I wanted to live in a state where I had no rights and high taxes and government obsessed with mundane minor topics, I would move to Maryland.