[Rakkasan1]

duh, it's below freezing half the frickin' year. who want to freeze to death trying to smoke? All the pols trying to take credit for the weather's doing. Then again, these are the same ilk who think we vastly influence the weather and contribute to global warming, so I guess they'll believe anything.

[PeterPrinciple]

But where is the friendliest place for smokers who don't want to quit?

[lesser_satan]

Minneapolis-St. Paul is the "friendliest" major metropolitan area for people trying to quit smoking

And the most un-friendly major metropolitan area for restaraunts bars who want to stay in business.

[pompelmous]

Yes and a bunch of small businesses are on their way out. Charitable gambling revenue from pull tabs in bars is down 25-40%. There are only three Communist countries left in the world, China, Cuba and Hennepin County. Medtronics and Guidant have both prospered in the Twincities because we have so many liberal bleeding hearts to save.

[Pusterfuss]

I live in the Twin Cities, and I am glad I do not smoke. I would consider it a hostile environment for smokers. There are bars and restaurants going out of business because of over-zealous smoking bans.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

The analysis included a variety of factors, including smoke-free laws and cigarette taxes.

Funny, but somehow I never thought of those as friendly. More like, "Ve haf vays off makink you vant to qvit;" or, "Ve haf vays off shtickink it to you in za vallet and ve know dat nobotti else vill complain about it."

"To improve their chances of quitting, smokers need an environment that motivates and supports them throughout the quitting process,"

And of course that involved government-sponsored programs, and "helping professionals." Maybe, but my old man quit smoking 45 years ago without "an environment that motivated and supported" him. He had a bad cold and it was unpleasant to smoke. After his cold, he figured that if he could give it up that long, he could give it up for good. He carried a pack of smokes with him for a couple of weeks just in case he needed one, but he never did, and that was that.

[Mike Darancette]

duh, it's below freezing half the frickin' year. who want to freeze to death trying to smoke?

I was doing some work in St Paul a few years back and we stood out in the cold (-15F) smoked, lots of us.

[SolutionsOnly]

This has got to be one of the stupidest rankings I've ever heard of. Whoever came up with this nonsense needs to get their government grant canceled and forced to get a real job.

[AmericanChef]

Minnesota is always trying to label itself "nice" and "friendly" and etc., etc., but I've found the population to be all too passive-aggressive.