Opinion: Smoking ban is coming

An all-out smoking ban will take effect May 1.

We have long had a workplace smoking ban, but bars and restaurants were exempted.  Next month smoking will be banned in virtually every work site including bars and restaurants. Some bar owners decry the possible loss of business, and some smokers complain of a loss of personal rights.  But the ban is coming.

Restaurant and bar owners have little to fear. More than 35 states and many local governments have such a ban in place. The experience across the board is that there is a slight drop in business for about 30 days, then business increases beyond the pre-ban days. That figures.

Only about 30 percent of all Michigan residents now smoke — so two-thirds don't.  That two-thirds of the population will now be more comfortable in those areas that were previously "smoke-filled."

My other theory is that smokers boycott their favorite bars and hang-outs at first, but after a month of eating their own cooking, they are happy to return to their bar.

What about the infringement on personal rights?

I agree with those that think this is a bit more of a gray area, but there are good reasons for the ban. It's really an extension of the concept that your right to swing your fist stops at my nose. The effects of second-hand smoke are now well documented, so non-smokers are 'assaulted' when they enter a smoky place of any kind.

Of course, they don't have to go there — but that severely limits their access to places that are otherwise open to the public. And what about workers?  The ban is really a work-place reform. While other workers have been free of smoke for some time, bar and restaurant workers suffer the effects of second-hand smoke.

This law grants them the same relief that other workers have benefited from.  It's a work-place equalizer.

There is an strong economic argument in favor of the law — one that has an impact on all of society.  I don't have the precise statistics, but a few years ago, while only about a third of the population smoked, about two-thirds of all the patients receiving long-term medical care assistance (state and federal tax assisted care) were smokers.

Thus, all taxpayers were subsidizing the care of smokers.

The law has been a long time coming.  A smoking ban bill was first introduced in the Michigan legislature about 12 to 14 years ago by then Rep. Ray Basham.

When he left the House to go to the Senate, the bill was taken up by a series of Flint area House members — Minore, Clack and then Gonzales.

Support for the law built over time, and it was finally passed and signed into law recently.

May 1— the smoking ban will finally be in place.

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I invite you to e-mail me if you would like to comment, seek clarification, complain, etc. I'm at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . But don't bother to e-mail me if you are unwilling to identify yourself by name and address, or at least, neighborhood. If you're unwilling to identify yourself, I will delete them automatically. I'm insisting on you identifying yourselves because I really don't want to receive the same kind of "idiot talk" that seems to fill the Flint Journal blogs.) — Jack.

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Jack Minore is a retired teacher, former long-serving city councilperson, former legislator and active in a number of political and environmental groups — notably the Flint River Watershed Coalition and Friends of the Flint River Trail. Jack was in the original group that formed East Village Magazine.