I also understand the health issue, and agree that there could easily be a mixture between smoking and non-smoking establishments. My sympathies here fall only on the employees of smoking establishments who don't smoke themselves, while one might say they could get another job (but where? If there are ten jobs in Olympia, there are a hundred people who want them), they are basically forced to inhale second hand smoke while on the job. This is the extent of my concern for peoples' health when it comes to smoking, it's a choice, plain and simple. I am a smoker myself, and I choose to do it despite all of the information I've read. I understand completely how hard it is to quit, but banning smoking in public is simply not going to work in the interest of public health.

We need to invest more in prevention, let's get to kids before they start smoking and give them all the facts. Show them the numbers of deaths and disease that come from smoking, and most importantly, let them make the decision on their own. Making it illegal will do nothing. Remember as a kid, when mom would tell you not to do something, told you it was against the rules? I know that for me and many others, we would do it anyway. This is life, and people need to be informed and given the freedom to make up their own minds. In my eyes, it is not the gov't's job to enforce personal choices when it comes to legal activity.

I'd consider myself pretty well left of center. Personally, I believe a person should be able to do whatever they want when it affects only (or almost only) themselves. I think that prohibiting the possession and use of certain drugs is foolish. I think it turns normal people into criminals in the eyes of the law, draining police resources with no purpose, and props up black markets which hurt the economy.

That said, I also think a person should have the right to choose not to be affected by someone else's choice. When someone's decision has an affect on me, which I can't escape without being driven from activities which I would otherwise choose to pursue, then they've encroached on my freedom. I think that smoker-only bars would be perfectly acceptable, and I think that similar marijuana-oriented establishments would be fine as well. Smoking sections would be fine if they were properly separated (that is, if the cloud didn't drift over into the non-smoking section). But people should have the ability to avoid them.

Of course, the "within 20 feet" bit of this law is pretty ridiculous. Especially when I can't walk down the street without inhaling the fumes from people's tailpipes.