No Smoking ... Anywhere

By Louis in News on May 2, 2007 7:22PM

State lawmakers passed a law yesterday that will ban smoking in bars, restaurants and other public workplaces across Illinois. The law passed fairly easily with a vote of 73-42, and Governor Blagojevich has said that he will likely sign the law. The ban will go into effect on January 1, 2008, making Illinois the 19th state to ban smoking.

The law's intent was to clear up the random patchwork of no-smoking laws throughout Illinois (resulting in situations where smoking restaurants across county lines have better tips). One of the laws affected is the Chicago no-smoking ban. The January 1 date will force Chicago-area bars to kill smokers (see what we did there) six months earlier than originally planned under the Chicago no-smoking law.

Chicagoist staff is a mixed bag of smokers and non-smokers, but spending time in New York's smoke-free bar and club scene has given us a glimpse of the future. While the non-smokers among us are extremely excited about not having to hang our clothes out the window for two days to get rid of the stench, it does change the atmosphere of a concert or night out. The smoky haze of a rock show in one of Chicago's seedier venues has become part of the experience.

Though, according to the American Cancer Society, working eight hours in a one of these smoky bars or clubs is about the same as smoking 16 cigarettes, and second-hand smoke contributes to 2,900 deaths a year in Illinois alone.

We guess it will just be that much harder to let your co-workers know how hardcore you are if they can't smell the rawk on your clothes. Just don't remove/wash off the armband/stamp, and you should get similar results.