Legislation prohibiting smoking in public places is not much different than legislation for mandatory seat belt usage, motorcycle helmet usage or minimum drinking age. There are a few things for which the government IS responsible, and they include providing for the safety of its citizenship.

The only areas where businesses have been adversely affected upon enacting non-smoking legislation have been in where there were only limited geographical areas affected. In other words, it is easy for someone from Columbus, OH to drive across the city line to another restaurant to smoke, but less likely so that someone here in Melbourne, FL will drive three hours north to the Georgia border to grab a burger and a smoke.

In the past, some states legislated the use of seat belts before others — or speed limits, for that matter. Some states resisted raising the drinking age to 21, but eventually all relented. I think that chances are better than good that eventually we will see non-smoking legislation in all 50 states. If I were a betting man, I would think that NC would be the last hold-out — much the same way that Louisiana (with New Orleans and Baton Rouge long a bastion of underage drinking) was the last to come around on a drinking age.

Steve

Steve