I love how Dan Savage speaks for us all at every single turn. There are plenty of nonsmoking places here, mon frere de Seattle.

Does the ban in Washington still unilaterally disregard businesses that previously had a smoking centric focus?

Ohhhh, well, if FRANCE is banning smoking, well OF COURSE we should follow suit. Because we love kissing France's ass SO MUCH.

There are still some bars in pdx that are non smoking, why not frequent those? Obviously if there was enough free market demand for nonsmoking-only bars, bars that did allow smoking would be forced out of the market, which obviously hasn't happened. Why not let adults make their own decisions? I'm surprised that Mr. Savage would eagerly advocate for the nanny-state concept.

It's not a nanny state when people are willingly giving other people cancer. If you can't do the right thing, then that's when the government needs to step in.

Smoking indoors is still allowed here in Calgary too, although not for much longer. When I smoked, I loved cities like Portland, Paris and Calgary. I love having a ciggy after a nice big meal, or with a beer, or a coffee, or between bands at a show. And I figured the same thing - if you don't like it, don't go there.

But now that I don't smoke, I still go to the same places, because I still like the food, or the bar, or the band that plays there, and it really is disgusting the way you smell when you get home.

I don't know what my point is, other than that if you can't smoke in your favorite places, you tend not to smoke so much, and is that really such a bad thing? If you want to slowly kill yourself, you can smoke in your car or outside without inflicting it on everyone else, eh?

I need the bars to ban smoking so that I'm not tempted to do it. Every time I go into Club 21, I find myself piking cigarettes of people. I need somebody to intervene in my addiction!

It's fucking archaic that we still smoke here, and I'm surprised so many people are still for it. I don't care what Paris or NY (or even Austin) does, it's just a very unhealthy thing to have to deal with when going out. When it's banned, no one misses it, it's not something that people will ever vote back in.

And for all those who mention the nonsmoking bars, there are a few, but when it comes to live music, not all venues are smoke free. If you want to smoke, drag your stinky ass outside and do it out of lungshot of those close to you. It's just fucking common courtesy. I know it makes you look cool, and you totally deserve every ounce of my sympathy for dropping $6 on those American Spirts, but please have the decency to do it outside, or in a smoke-room, ala the cute 'lil space at Holocene.

The OLCC would need to loosen up with allowing outside seating if Oregon was to go smoke-free. Someone I know who runs a bar applied to have outside seating (he only allows smoking in a designated area inside but wanted to have an area outside for the summer). It took the OLCC 5-6 months to get their shit figured out. They lost the application, then the person went on vacation, then he forgot about it, then you have to post a notice on your door to notify the neighborhood.
Bar owners have to get a permit from the city as well, that only took 4 weeks.

Personal preferences aside, the only legitimate PUBLIC POLICY matter is the worker health issue. "I want to go to bar X and I have a right to do so without smoke" isn't a legitimate public policy issue.

(And I say this as one of the single most considerate and non-asshole smokers you'll ever meet, who pays a great deal of attention to where I smoke, around whom I smoke, and what I do with the butts when I'm done.)

Ditto on what B!x says. I don't even smoke anymore but was pretty fucking gracious when I did...I don't mind smoke rooms and outside seating (covered, please) etc etc, but to fully ban it just because it is "archaic" (hmm, you "don't care" if NY or Austin has banned it, methinks differently!)or coming home reeking of smoke sucks, well, um, not good enough.

Workers health--OK, I can get behind that, but smoking in bars is just part of the game in some sorts of bars and if this whole outlawing thing occurs, please have mercy on smokers and give em a place to comfortably,um, "look cool".

I'm all for bars having separate smoking rooms but banning it altogether is going too far. What is Washington's law? 25 feet from the establishment? What logic is there in that?
What I find odd is that the only person I've ever known to die of lung cancer never smoked a day in her life (but did inhale lots of cleaning fluids as a maid in the 60s). My grandmother however, chain-smoked most of her life and is still going strong at 92.

Oh, come on! Do you work for the cigarette company? My dad died of smoking cigarettes when he was 53. And if you have ever seen anyone whose eyes are bulging out because he didn't know if he were ever going to take another breath, you might have a different viewpoint.
p.s. Wonder how many people your 92 year old grandma has killed?

This bumping up (aka instigating) of blog stories with a questionable quality of "feistiness" is almost as lame as your swipe at those "justifying cancer".

I recently quit because my grandfather has terminal lung cancer. I get it, bigtime, OK? However, it is another thing entirely for me to go on a "No Smoking Anywhere...or else!" crusade--got other fish to fry. Sorry.

It kind of sounds like you don't get it. No one is saying "No Smoking Anywhere...or else!" Trying to portray people who are concerned about second hand smoke as unthinking nazis isnt cool.But please, go fry your other fish. Sounds like its really important.

I can't wait until all bars are smoke free. Fuck all you smokers for making me smell and breathe your disgusting smoke. Have fun smoking in the rain outside asshats.

most of the non-smoking music venues in portland are all-ages clubs (aka hawthorne theater, wonderland, crystal ballroom, etc.), of which we have faaar too few. (many thanks to those we have.) of course, i was at a show at the crystal the other night, and some jerkwad was smoking in front of me anyway. i could've strangled him. the fact is, i'm a non-smoker who chooses not to frequent establishments where people can smoke inside, as smoke makes me seriously ill, and it totally sucks. often times, i can't go to see my friends' bands play, i can't meet my coworkers for a drink, i can't go out for people's birthdays. it really comes down to respect. i am happy to respect others' right to choose to smoke, as long as they respect my right not to. and that means smoking outside. period. although, all that aside, i agree that workers rights are the most serious issue by far. i can't imagine how much it must suck to work in a smoky environment. if employers can't expose their employees to daily doses of radiation/asbestos/hazardous chemicals, why should they be able to expose them to cigarette smoke?

most of the non-smoking music venues in portland are all-ages clubs (aka hawthorne theater, wonderland, crystal ballroom, etc.), of which we have faaar too few. (many thanks to those we have.) of course, i was at a show at the crystal the other night, and some jerkwad was smoking in front of me anyway. i could've strangled him. the fact is, i'm a non-smoker who chooses not to frequent establishments where people can smoke inside, as smoke makes me seriously ill, and it totally sucks. often times, i can't go to see my friends' bands play, i can't meet my coworkers for a drink, i can't go out for people's birthdays. it really comes down to respect. i am happy to respect others' right to choose to smoke, as long as they respect my right not to. and that means smoking outside. period. although, all that aside, i agree that workers rights are the most serious issue by far. i can't imagine how much it must suck to work in a smoky environment. if employers can't expose their employees to daily doses of radiation/asbestos/hazardous chemicals, why should they be able to expose them to cigarette smoke?

Eugene banned smoking -- yes, even in bars -- a couple years ago. It does make going out a much more pleasant experience. And smokers can still smoke outside, away from the door. There are more places with outside seating, too. Every time I go out in Portland & see someone smoking, it just seems so sdrawkcab....

Honestly, I'm quite pleased to see this. My city went smoke-free and it's really annoying. This from someone who thinks cigarettes are essentially rolled garbage.

But you know, this anti-smoking thing has gotten way out of hand, and I enjoy a pipe or cigar once every couple of months. (B!x is right)

The message from Dan Savage is very progressive. How ironic. He is the editor of The Stranger in Seattle. The Stranger was #1 in WA State in opposing Initiative 901. The paper created '25-foot rule mania', using the standard Big Tobacco tactic of diverting attention from the main issue. In this case, the real issue was worker's rights. No worker deserves to breathe deadly poison as a condition of his or her job. The Stranger tried to divert the public's attention to the provision that smokers would legally have to be 25 feet from a building entrance unless other arrangements were made with the health dept. The paper had some success in blowing this common sense rule out of proportion and, I'm sure, swayed a few votes. As part of their active campaign against the smoking ban, they urged citizens to vote NO ON I-901 in their voter guide. Luckily, the citizens of WA state were progressive enough to pass it overwhelmingly, despite The Stranger. Of course, The Stranger continues to work actively with RJ Reynolds within the community by publishing mass amounts of full page camel ads and 'Camel Club page' ads in almost every issue. No one can think about Big Fat Deliscious Camel Wides without thinking of The Stranger. It is, most likely, the #1 vehicle in WA state for getting kids hooked on cigarettes, and a practice which Dan Savage defends. And with the extra nicotine in smokes these days, RJ-aka The Stranger's Daddy-has got it made. The smoking rate in Seattle is way down. But, thanks to media like The Stranger, the 16-25 year old smoking rate is up.
At least, in spite of The Stranger's eforts, the partying in Seattle is finally smoke-free.

I was so excited to see this conversation happening about smoke in bars. We are working to change the law to protect all workers in Oregon from secondhand smoke; making all workplaces 100% smokefree! It's going to take people like you who care about this issue to help make it happen. Please get involved!