New ideas to better the Old Line State
Maryland's Smoking Bans Should Be Snuffed Out
By William L. Anderson, Ph.D.
Published on Thursday, April 05, 2007
MARYLAND POLICY REPORT
Almost 40 years ago, airliners and restaurants began to demarcate smoking and non-smoking sections. College classrooms allegedly became smoke-free at about the same time. At the time, the idea of making all restaurants and bars non-smoking seemed to be out of the question, and most anti-smoking activists at the time would have said the same thing. The Maryland Senate and House both recently passed legislation that would extend the smoking ban in indoor public places to bars and restaurants statewide.
This legislation is a long way from the mild pre-1970 initiatives that seemed to be commonsense, and one can be sure that the anti-smoking activists are not through yet. Governments at all levels continue to extort money from tobacco companies ostensibly to pay for smoking-related health care costs when, in fact, the funds have been used for many things clearly not related to recouping money spent on health care. This suggests the original litigation was not about health but rather another way for states to levy a special tax for other purposes.
Overall, the tobacco wars do not just rage out of health concerns, even while they are framed in those terms. Health is supposedly the sole reason for this proposed ban – but whenever a legislative body tries to extend its power, the expansion of power by a governing body decreases the freedom of other individuals, and diminishes their own constitutional rights of property and individual freedom.
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