[justshutupandtakeit]

"Public licensing laws are more of a means for the "haves" to limit competetion from the "wanna-haves"..." What a crock but thats typical. Licensing laws are the result of the demands of the public for accountability by public business.

Certainly the "haves" in the smoking fight are the Tobacco companies and the bar owners. There is no big money interest pushing anti-smoking ordinances.

[patton]

"There is no big money interest pushing anti-smoking ordinances."

I beg your pardon?

It is a huge industry, not just here, but worldwide.

[Gabz]

Certainly the "haves" in the smoking fight are the Tobacco companies and the bar owners. There is no big money interest pushing anti-smoking ordinances.

I can't believe ANYONE would say any such thing........First off, the tobacco companies DO NOT fight the smoking bans in any major way, secondly the bar owners fighting these things are generally small business people trying to keep their business going and don't have a lot of time or money to deal with the legislative process.

But the most egrarious part of this is the sentence I bolded.........that is an out and out bald faced lie. The fact of the matter is there is MAJOR money in pushing the anti smoking ordinances, most of it coming from the Pharmaceutical manufacturers of "nicotine replacement therapies."

[nightlight7]

Certainly the "haves" in the smoking fight are the Tobacco companies and the bar owners.

Let's see -- out of $55 per carton in my state, the Big Tobacco plus tobacco farmers and retail gross all together about $15, while the $40 goes to the Big Antitobacco (Big Pharma + Big Med and their bureaucratic attack dogs). And that's just the tip of the iceberg of the antismoking swindle.

There is no big money interest pushing anti-smoking ordinances.

Yeah sure, provided you consider several billions every year in USA alone, for antismoking "science", paybacks to buraucratic enforcers and politicians, creation and funding of a "grass roots" antismoking and "smoking-related" disease organizations,... just a "little" money. It is a "little money" only compared to how much they extort from smokers based on these "investments".

[philman_36]

There is no big money interest pushing anti-smoking ordinances.
Just a "for instance"...

Backers of ballot initiatives reel in funding
Campaign-finance reports filed late last week show that a drive to enact a statewide smoking ban at all indoor workplaces has raised more than a half-million dollars, with the bulk of the money coming from the American Cancer Society.