In the 11 months since my 21st birthday, I’d like to think I’ve become somewhat of a novice connoisseur among the bar scene in Boston. That is, as well as nearly having completed a bachelor’s degree in English literature, I’ve also spent the last year learning where in Boston I should go to find the cheapest mixed drink and where I should go to slowly sip a $13 Godiva chocolate martini. I’ve learned where I should try a Scorpion Bowl and where I should simply stick to drinking Coors Lite out of a plastic bottle. I’ve learned to avoid Lansdowne Street on Saturday nights unless I want to take home a drunk, underage freshman girl who wears plastic, sports a bad fake ID, and worships Brittany Spears. I’ve learned if I want to look for a classy date, or better yet, the businessman fiance my mother dreams of, I should steer my long blonde hair, little black dress and big blue eyes toward Fanuiel Hall’s bars and try to pick up some lonely singleton from the Financial District. I’ve also learned if I want to have my pick of guys from a verifiable meat market of good-looking upperclassmen, and maybe get a hand or two thrust up my sparkly tank top, then I should maybe spend Friday nights at Allston-Brighton bars, where the ladies get in free until 11 p.m.
Yet while sipping drinks at The Vault may seem completely different than throwing back tequila shots at the Cactus Club, there are certain elements of the Boston bar atmosphere that seem to make even the most novice college-age bar hopper at home.
And smoking is definitely one of those elements.
Whether weeding my way through sweaty men on the dance floors of Lansdowne Street or simply chatting with my boyfriend over a glass of wine or pint of Guinness at the bar near my apartment, I, like so many patrons, expect people to smoke almost as much as I expect them to drink.
Obviously, however, the Boston Public Health Commission does not agree with me. Effective May 5, 2003, all workplaces in Boston will become ‘smoke-free’ establishments and any patron who wishes to smoke will be forced outside the establishment to a designated smoking area. With all the health risks associated with smoking, the Boston Public Health Commission believes that all workplaces, including bars, should be ‘smoke-free’ in order to ensure the health and safety of their workers.
On a serious level, as much as I recognize the detrimental effects of smoking like cancer, asthma and birth defects and on a superficial level, as much as I hate the way my hair and clothes reek of cigarettes after a night at the bars this new smoking ban has left me wondering just where the Massachusetts government is likely to stop.
By banning smoking, Massachusetts is insisting the state knows what is better for its citizens than its citizens themselves do. What’s next after smoking is pushed out of bar rooms? No smoking on public streets? State-designated smoking areas?
And what about after that? Will the bars themselves fall victim? With the state systematically cracking down on its citizens’ personal vices and simultaneously curing lung cancer, should we expect alcoholism and liver failure to be next on their agenda? Why stop at cigarettes when you can keep all your citizens healthy by simply revoking some of their rights?
Of course, I don’t expect Massachusetts to revert back to Puritanism or reinstate Prohibition, but I think the point is a valid one. Where is the line between state mandate and personal freedom? Can the state really effectively make this single, sweeping decision for thousands of Massachusetts employees?
Banning smoking in bars will inevitably force some patrons outside of the city limits. Likewise, patrons who frequent the city may be apt to stay in their hometowns where smoking is not prohibited. With this loss of business, shouldn’t the bartenders, waitresses and managers decide for themselves whether sacrificing a chunk of their paycheck is worth the clean air and life-long health benefits?
Much older than the new smoking ban is the law declaring that one must be 18 years old to purchase cigarettes. Why then, if the state insists that only mature, legal adults smoke cigarettes, are they treating them like children when they want to light up?
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