Lift ban on smoking in bars

Published: Tuesday, March 2, 1999

Tuesday, March 2, 1999

LAWS: Health campaigns target cigarettes, but risks common for any activity

I picked up the Sunday paper the other day, and right next to Gene Siskel's smiling face was an article about vice cops in San Diego who have been cracking down on smokers in bars, fining them up to $275. I think I laughed, then coughed since I was smoking down the last of my grit.

"San Diego is doing an excellent job," said Diana Kaiser, director of the California Smoke-free Bar Program, "We wish other cities would use the San Diego model, and we plan to bring it to their attention."

Hmm ... first of all, Diana, you are the director of what? The California Smoke-free Bar Program. That seems like a credible association - that does absolutely nothing.

Apparently it is not only illegal to smoke in bars now, but it is also illegal to reveal the identity of an undercover vice cop. Imagine this: you're in a bar, you transiently forget about the new smoking ban and light up a smooth Lucky Strike. The girl you've been talking to for the last hour takes your hand, and you walk out with her. Then she begins writing you a ticket. "One hundred dollars," you scream under your breath.

After a few sarcastic comments, you walk back in, buy another drink and begin telling people about the vice cop that just busted you. She comes back in, and everybody stares at her.

As she glides past you, some guy remarks, "I inhaled some smoke driving here in the smog, and when I walked in I coughed it around. Several people have complained about my smoggy breath. Am I eligible for a fine too?" Your fine is now $275 for revealing the identity of a vice cop.

There is something funny but also disturbing about that story. Funny, because it's ridiculous to be fined while smoking in a bar, and disturbing, because that story is true (except for the hypothetical characters and inane comment).

The idea that secondhand smoke is bad for the lungs is no surprise. But the grayish cloud hanging in the air, the smokestack next to the UCLA police department and that burger you just put down are all equally bad for your health, if you plug it into some formula.

If you're a bartender and complain about secondhand smoke "that's like a mechanic complaining about getting his hands greasy," says John Costello (proud non-smoker but advocate of smokers' rights). Waitresses and bartenders take a calculated job risk just like anybody else in a potentially hazardous situation.

You can't say dismantling a nuclear weapon isn't risky. People have been smoking for ages. It's a time old tradition, just like alcohol and chocolate. What about the secondhand victims of alcohol-related car accidents?

You see, I enjoy the occasional cigarette after a meal, maybe one after a four hour final or perhaps in a bar where it isn't unusual to use drugs such as nicotine and alcohol. In fact, you may be surprised that nicotine has some benefits.

It arouses the mind by releasing acetylcholine neurotransmitters which are key for memory and other cognitive faculties. It also makes you more alert and can ease tension and stress.

Now I'm not suggesting that you smoke four packs a day and a few cigars and visit the hookahs at Gypsy Cafe while packing a tight wad of Shoal's Wintergreen dip in the back of your mouth, but you can have a cigarette or two - I don't care.

I believe cigarettes should not be allowed in certain places and should not be smoked in certain circumstances. Smoke-free restaurants are OK. You probably shouldn't smoke in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit), in Health and Fitness 100, at the first meeting of the California Smoke-free Bar Program, in a room full of propane or in your mother's car. You also shouldn't fall asleep smoking a cigarette in bed, smoke at your first job interview, smoke if you're pregnant or smoke in a fire.

Sure, there are plenty of reasons why we shouldn't be smoking, but then there are plenty of reasons why we shouldn't be doing a lot of things.

I would relinquish my right to have a cigarette in a bar if this were a utopian society of law-abiding citizens where the government didn't allow the mass sale of cigarettes to China and other countries where up to 80 percent of the population claim to smoke.

Tobacco company profits may be declining in domestic sales, and the Americans seem to be becoming more health conscious, but there is no reason why we shouldn't market and sell as many cigarettes as we can to children in Czechoslovakia. Right? This policy seems a little hypocritical to me.

The media would like to feed you the illusion that tobacco companies are losing the "war against cigarettes." But the millions that they lose in class action lawsuits or the $300 billion-something settlement they made with the American public are slight dents in the profits these companies are raking in from overseas. Tobacco companies make over 70 percent of their profits exporting tobacco products.

People are still smoking cigarettes. I really don't think people will stop smoking unless it is seriously affecting their personal health. But how do you know?

Well for starters, if you get addicted to the nicotine patch while trying to kick the habit, then you should seriously evaluate your personal addiction.

Also, if that cough you got back during flu season hasn't gone away for 16 years, you should probably put out that cigarette. The idea that smoking takes a few years off your life may or may not be true. There are just too many other factors such as environment, diet and exercise that make any vital statistic seem a little less credible.

If you're a non-smoker then you're probably rejoicing over the new tax hike and smoke-free America campaign. But people who enjoy tobacco are having a hard time trying to bum cigarettes. I never ask anyone if they can spare an extra cig because for $4.50 a pack they are going to say, "Uh ... dude, this is like my last one." Or I've always like the response, "Sorry, I bummed this off somebody else."

The unspoken etiquette that smokers once had - that is the common courtesy to share a cigarette - is slowly disappearing.

I think Westwood has been getting a little too conservative recently. The opening of the new smoke store, Illusions, has caused complaints from residents. Apparently the sale of "glass pipes," incense and glowing mushrooms is a little bit too weird for a college town. Who are these people, and why are they still living here?

Let me reiterate: Westwood is for the students - there are over 30,000 of us here. Let us have dance clubs and smoke shops and stop whining about the stupid dome. Who cares what color it is - as if preserving the historic authenticity of the city means anything anymore.

Imran Khaliq

Did you know you can buy cigarettes in Boelter Hall at the SEAS engineering cafe? E-mail all complaints or comments to ikhaliq@ucla.edu.

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