Maryland Joins DC in Restaurant Smoking Ban
Beginning Feb. 1, 2008, smoking in any bar or restaurant throughout the state of Maryland will be illegal. DC banned smoking in all restaurants and bars beginning January 2nd of this year.
The Virginia legislature has continually refuse to pass a non-smoking bill for bars and restaurants in Virginia. And since Virginia’s is a Dillon Rule state, local counties and municipalities do not have the authority to ban smoking and must wait for Richmond and the Governor to pass any anti-smoking legislation. But with Virginia being the nation’s fourth largest producer of tobacco, it may be a while.
More than half of the states ban or have laws that will soon go into effect to ban smoking in resturants.
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POSTED IN: City History & Information, Food & Beverage
2 opinions for Maryland Joins DC in Restaurant Smoking Ban
Lindsey Rava
May 21, 2007 at 4:36 pm
Virginia and North Carolina are both big tobacco producing states. Here in North Carolina, our legislature recently voted down a proposal to ban smoking in public. We conducted a survey to see what people really thought. One thing we found is that, at least here in North Carolina, people feel that smoking is more of a nuisance than it is a health problem. 30% of the respondents said they would support a ban on all tobacco products, which was somewhat shocking considering our heritage of tobacco farming. Also, over 60% support a public ban on smoking. When we asked the same people to rank the greatest health threats, they put smoking last behind drugs, alcohol and obesity. Look at our blog if you’re interested. http://www.brogansurvey.blogspot.com. You can see how the results varied by age, race, gender and geography.
Anna M. Reuben
Jan 23, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Restaurants should have the right to exercise the option for everyone to smoke. No one has the right to give restaurants direct orders for smopking bans in their establishments.
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