A private business owner should maintain the right to make decisions for his/her own establishment, and consumers should make their personal decision as to whether they will enter.Governor Doyle’s proposed statewide smoking ban would strip business owners of their ability to decide whether or not they can permit smoking. This is a gross infringement on personal freedom.Yes, secondhand smoke is dangerous for everyone, and smoking should not be permitted in public places. But a bar is NOT a public place — it is private, and you choose to enter a bar. If a bar has smoking and you don’t like smoke, stop whining and go somewhere else. Done.
Uhle’s Pipe Shop owner, Jeff Steinbock, believes there are ulterior motives aside from the obvious health aspects.“The anti-smoking industry, and it is an industry, not a movement, is trying to take away owners right to make a decision,” he said. “Pharmaceutical companies are lobbying the government, because they will make money off of products people buy to try to quit smoking, such as gum, patches, etc.”
Ever come across an anti-smoking ad sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation? The RWJF “focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country,” according to their website, RWJF.org. Robert Wood Johnson is the founder of Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson is the manufacturer of pharmaceutical nicotine products, Nicoderm and Nicoderm CQ, through its subsidiary ALZA.No wonder the RWJF spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year so colleges and not-for-profit organizations like the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, and American Heart Association can produce gross exaggerations about the effects of smoking. Then smokers can go to tobacco-less nicotine products, made by Johnson & Johnson.According to the history section of the RWJF website, “The philanthropy we practice seeks to be transformative—to change society and the lives of all Americans for the better.” Yeah — change the life of your bank account for the better.
Large amounts of methane gas are harmful to the environment. What’s next? A fart ban, and coinciding Johnson & Johnson Farts-Begone-Patches?
Don’t buy into the anti-smoking propaganda. Don’t let a smoking ban ruin local business and steal our ability to make personal choices.