I grew up in a house with two parents who were smokers.  I loathed their habit.  I was sick frequently, and I’m pretty sure that my constant exposure to secondhand smoke had something to do with it.  I think it’s irresponsible and just generally not nice to expose your kids, or even unwilling strangers, to your cigarette smoke.

This continued to be true as I became an on-again, off-again smoker in adulthood.  Yep, I know, it’s a disgusting habit.  And I am the most deplorable type of smoker because I am not currently and have not ever been addicted to nicotine.  I smoke because I enjoy it, and I have no problem at all with smoking a pack (or more) in a day, then not touching a single cigarette for weeks or months or even years.

I have always been a skeptical supporter of smoking bans in restaurants.  Kids go to restaurants, old people go to restaurants, people with a variety of health conditions go to restaurants, and I think it’s a little inconsiderate to subject all of those people to your unwanted smoke.  On the other hand, I’m also a strong supporter of personal rights and it makes me cringe a little to see the government worried about where people light up instead of focusing on what I consider to be real issues.  I think a nice solution would be to ban “smoking sections” and instead allow restaurants to choose whether they are smoking establishments or not.  I feel like it should be up to the people who own the restaurant, who would undoubtedly choose whichever option was the most popular among their clientele.  Don’t want to be around cigarette smoke?  Go to a non-smoking establishment.  Want to light up after (or during) your meal?  Go to a restaurant that does allow smoking.

The one thing that drives me completely batty, though, is the motherfuckers who overstep their boundaries by seriously suggesting that smoking should be banned in bars.  IN BARS, PEOPLE?  What is a bar?  It’s a place where you go to get fucked up.  It is not a place where you take the kids to enjoy salad and apple slices.  It is not a place where you take Grandma.  It is a place where you go to get fucking drunk, and smoking cigarettes makes being fucking drunk even more fun.

Dallas appears to be very close to banning smoking in bars.  I already can’t smoke at Jason’s Deli, or at Chipotle, or at any of my other favorite restaurants.  And that’s fine.  I’ve got no real problem with that.  But to ban smoking in bars is just a ridiculous way for non-smokers to try and regulate the activities of everyone around them.  I seriously wish people would give up on trying to make bars a “healthier” place.  They are, practically by definition, dens of iniquity.  And I like it that way.