Martin Austermuhle
Well, it’s done — the D.C. Council endorsed for a second and final time a ban on smoking in area bars and restaurants on an 11-1 vote, all but assuring that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams cannot successfully veto the legislation. The ban will take force next January, but will exempt hotel rooms, medical research facilities, cigar and hookah bars, and tobacco stores.
According to ban opponents, the legislation all but assures the death of the District’s thriving bar and restaurant scene and the eventual and inevitable imposition of any number of other restrictions on having fun. Ban supporters are no doubt cheering, ecstatic that they can now go drink themselves silly and wake up in a pool of their own vomit without having to wash the smoke out of their clothes.
