Theory of Flight

Maneuvering Around The Ban

It always strikes me as odd just how far people are willing to go in order to smoke. On one hand, I fully understand that the addiction to nicotine is absolutely crippling and most smokers aren't strong enough to resist it but on the other hand, I want to just say "really??!!?"

Thanks to a technicality in VA legislation, certain bars in Northern Virginia are exempt from the recent smoking ban - sort of. If a bar has a completely walled off and separate room for smokers with its own ventilation system that is not connected to the non-smoking area in any way, then said bar may be permitted to allow smoking inside. Is it just me, or does this seem like quite a stretch in the name of catering to smokers?

Sure, smokers are people too and they deserve the right to frequent any restaurant or bar they want, they just don't have the right to expose others to harmful chemicals via smoke. For bar owners, this presents an opportunity to be among the very few bars that can offer indoor smoking but at what expense? I mean, do smokers really bring in THAT MUCH more money where bar owners can afford to add an extra room and a separate (sustained) ventilation system? Not to mention adding staff who are specifically allocated to the smoking section. In short, most bars will not be able to justify spending extra just for people to smoke indoors. For those few bars that happen to already have the required separations, it's just a matter of time before legislation is reworded to tackle that issue.