I am just amazed at the difference in what people think the Ohio Smoking ban was supposed to do, and what it actually HAS done.

Many people believe erroneously that the passage of issue 5 solved a problem, when in reality , what ORC 3794 did was to create a new host of problems for almost everyone; anti smokers, non smokers, smokers, law enforcement, and the department of health.

The first fallacy to bite the dust was the one of a "level playing field" so frequently touted by the smoking ban proponents. Any 6th grader that has ever opened an economics or history textbook knows that there is no such thing and that there can never be in a functioning capitalist economy. To stay in line with the metaphor, the shape and rules of the playing field have just changed. It’s no more “level” than it ever was.

Over 100 Ohio licensed beverage based businesses have gone under since enforcement of the ban began and thousands of people are out of work because of the ban. These were businesses that tried to comply with the law. Their mistake. They tried to play by what they thought were the new rules.

Some bars and private clubs choose to openly defy the ban, shouting to the world that smokers are welcome, and choosing to deal with the consequences as they come. Business is good for them. For now.

Some bars and private clubs choose to follow the letter of the law while violating the intent. They post signs, remove ashtrays, and tell patrons that they are not allowed to smoke. There is no requirement for owners or managers to eject smokers, so they don't. Owners and employees are not enforcement agents. It's an uncomfortable compromise, but it seems to be working for some, but at the cost of breeding general disrespect for law - not a good thing in a democracy!

Many bars and private clubs have become part time smoke-easys, like most neighborhood bars in California and New York, where the ashtrays and the smokers come out after 9pm. It works. Regulars stay, new business comes in as word of mouth gets the job done.

Notice the neighbor who now has five or ten cars parking in front of his home one or two or three nights a week? The music? The raucous laughter? Those are the patrons of some of the hundreds of bars that have closed or of the local places where people can no longer smoke. They now have a rotating party at their homes, one of which is next door. Problems for you, problems for police, problems for the party goers and for everyone else as there's no watchful bartender stopping fights or keeping an eye on drivers getting too drunk.

People going outside of establishments to smoke are getting shot, raped, beaten and run over. Smokers, Non smokers and anti smokers alike are now forced, if they wish to remain in the company of their friends and acquaintances, to step outside, loiter outside, remain outside, risking exposure, injury and even violent bloody death, because they have been forced to leave the building to continue a conversation or remain close by a friend or loved one.

Local health departments are already out of funds to enforce the ban. They received a little less than $850 per department for enforcement. They are now dipping into funds meant for other projects and enforcement. Several of them have given up and turned enforcement over to the state health department. As resources are moved from things like food inspections we're likely to see real actual deaths from things like food poisoning, real deaths and real bodies that antismokers have never really been able to show from secondhand smoke.

Local health inspectors that are just a bit less than scrupulous may have found a brand new income stream. Violations of the smoking ban are hard to prove against a business. With a bit of financial encouragement the violation disappears.

The Franklin County Court Of Common Pleas, the only court in the state permitted by law to hear appeals of smoking ban violations, will at some point become hopelessly inundated as businesses file appeals to violations. We'll end up with petty criminals released on the streets to commit more petty or not so petty crimes.

Authorities are only attempting to enforce half of the law. The easy half for them. The law provides penalties for individuals that smoke in prohibited areas. Ohio has a population of over eleven million. Around two and a half million are smokers. NOT ONE INDIVIDUAL has been cited or warned under the auspices of the smoking ban. And after all isn’t that the purported purpose of the law? To supposedly save people from themselves? To stop them from making what others consider bad choices? To save employees and children from the mythical effects of second hand smoke? Why does the Department of Health get to pick and choose what parts of which laws they enforce?

Frankly that’s probably only the tip of the iceberg. I don’t claim to be any kind of expert. These are just the problems that anyone can see on a day to day basis: businesses and lives ruined, neighborhoods transformed and damaged, people injured and killed, the development of yet another illegal underground economy, and instant criminals created from normally law abiding citizens who choose a particular, legal lifestyle.

And No, I won’t tell you where the “Smoking Allowed” places are. I still vote with my wallet. “No Smoke, No Dough”. I smoke with and after my meals. In a real Ohio restaurant. I have an ashtray on the bar in front of me while I listen to a live band or DJ and sip a cocktail at a real, flourishing Ohio bar. If I were to broadcast openly where these places are, some misguided zealot would make it their purpose in life to get them cited or shut down. If you are a smoker or have smoking friends, you either already know these places, or can find out easily through your own social network. If not, call or email me. After I get to know you I’ll meet you at a place where we can have a drink, have lunch, and smoke a cigarette inside.