Proof that Smoking Bans Don’t Work
Posted: May 20th, 2009 |Yesterday, the House Health and Welfare committee narrowly passed HB844 by one vote. This means that the bill moves on to the full House of Representatives for debate. This bill passed despite testimony from the opposition which presented undisputed evidence that smoking bans do not work.
According to the first major study on the effects of smoking bans, conducted by the prestigious National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER):
workplace bans are not associated with statistically significant short-term declines in mortality or hospital admissions
Please educate yourself on this important issue by reading the study. Here are some additional problems with the smoking ban:
- The smoking ban will force smokers to smoke at home around their children.
- The smoking ban will take away your constitutional right and the right of business owners to The Pursuit of Happiness.
- The smoking ban will force the will of the majority onto the minority (similar to how other minority groups have been treated in the history of our country).
- The smoking ban will put businesses that cater to smokers out of business, resulting in layoffs and more Louisiana citizens receiving unemployment payments from the state.
- The smoking ban will result in less tax revenue for the state, and contrary to popular anti-smoking propaganda, this money will not be made up by a decrease in health care costs.
- The smoking ban will lead more parents to smoke at home in front of their children, influencing their children negatively and increasing the likelihood that their children will become smokers in the future.
- The smoking ban will cost the Louisiana convention business hundreds of thousands of dollars as Cigar Retailers are forced to have their conventions in other cities that haven’t lost their minds.
- The smoking ban will cost Louisiana casinos millions of dollars as out-of-town gamblers flee to casinos in other states which allow smoking. Again, more lost tax revenue for the state.
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There are some VERY solid arguments that have been made against government-imposed smoking bans and it is vital that the legislators and hospitality industry/staff/employers/patrons become familiar with them. Please follow the links I’m giving here, print the information out, and distribute it where you can. The antismoking lobby is very powerful and staffed by full-time paid professionals who are drawing on the battle experience of hundreds of battles before this.
IF YOU DON”T FIGHT HARD YOU **WILL** LOSE YOUR STATE TO THEM!
They will seek to split off the restaurants from the bars, and the casinos from both the restaurants and bars. DO NOT LET THEM DO THIS. If you don’t stand together they WILL kill you.
Three links:
1) The “Stiletto”: a short, printable, bindable booklet that should be out on every bar in New Orleans and elsewhere. It’s one sided, but its facts are accurate, their presentation is honest, and it rips the lies of the Antismokers to shreds. Read and download at:
http://encyclopedia.smokersclub.com/257.html
2) A quick and clear counterargument to the “Bans won’t hurt casinos” claim. Last year the full ban states of Illinois and Colorado lost 22% and 13% of their casino takes to bans. The partial ban states of Nevada and New Jersey lost about ten percent. The Free-Choice states of Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri GAINED 2%, 5%, and 7% respectively… so the losses of the others can NOT be blamed on the economy. Additionally, check out this quick and clear graph of what happened to Minnesota’s “charitable gambling revenue” over a five year history of their bans:
http://arclightzero.web.officelive.com/Documents/MNGraph.pdf
I have data extending the graph throughout 2008 for any who email me at Cantiloper on aol.
3) The “New Study” they’re hitting your legislators with that claims “bars and restaurants don’t lose jobs” after bans plays up a lie by deliberately lumping the two types of businesses together while *knowing* that the severe losses to bars get overwhelmed by the milder losses of restaurants. See the full analysis at:
http://www.freedom2choose.info/news_viewer.php?id=1020
Smoking bans are bad laws based on lies. The economic lies are easy to see, but the health lies about low levels of secondary smoke are just as bad. The greatest weakness of the antismoking movement is their dependence on those lies: expose them and get people angry about them and YOU CAN BEAT THEM!
Michael J. McFadden,
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
Michael,
Thank you for the info. Unfortunately I probably won’t have time to read through all the info you’ve linked to before the Louisiana legislature makes a decision on this issue, but I’m glad you’re out there searching for the truth.
Along the way I have uncovered many lies told about smoking. In fact, there have been lies told on both sides of the argument. In the short term, I don’t think that the majority of the voting public is going to figure all this out.
And regardless of all that, the fact remains that blanket bans are an affront on liberty. That’s the real issue, in my opinion: the government should only take away your freedoms as a last resort. The reality is that these days they’ll take it away with little to no reason at all.
Gil Birman
FairTobaccoReform.org
A quick followup:
The story of that bogus study is steadily getting worse. Read the full story in Jacob Grier’s May 27th column and comments afterward at http://www.jacobgrier.com
Quick ‘n dirty: The raw data sources for the two largest named cities in the study actually show that the bar industry employment was DECIMATED by their bans. No wonder the researchers buried it in restaurant data! Also: wait’ll you read the wording of the half-million dollar grant that funded this study - the whole thing was a set-up to produce research supporting the ban!
Truly incredible. Truly blatant. Truly disgusting. And the legislators in LA and possibly in Texas will be voting on smoking bans believing a lie.
Michael J. McFadden,
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
One more quick followup… because the sins of the antismoking lobbyists and their buddies just keep getting worse the more closely you look at them.
See the press release from the bar owners suffering in Ohio and read the commentary on the total lack of responsibility shown by the researchers in revealing their competing interests as authors, visit
http://www.JacobGrier.com
and read his columns of May 27th AND May 29th and the comments after each.
You will be amazed at the full story! It reads more like a tale of something you’d find in the National Enquirer than in a medical research journal!
Michael J. McFadden,
Author of “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”
Woo Hoo!! Good work everyone! It looks like our voices have been heard. Let’s make sure that they don’t try this again:-)
http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl060209mlsmoke.409984a3.html
Something I didn’t realize when I first read the news stories on this was that we actually came within shooting distance of rolling back the existing ban!
Maybe next year, eh?
-MJM
LOL! I didn’t realize it either, I assume you’re talking about the proposed amendment that said:
“Section 3. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to any casino, bar, or restaurant
7 which has a business operating or liquor license or permit prior to the effective date of this Act.”
… and one other that had similar wording.
Speaking of amendments it was disappointing that Rep. Hines reneged on his promise to introduce an amendment excluding Cigar and Hookah bars. During the HB844 committee hearing he even exclaimed that we was a fan and former patron of the Hookah Cafe!
Gil Birman
Louisiana for Fair Tobacco Reform
Proprietor, Hookah Cafe, LLC