[link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021300695.html|Washington Post]:

Tuesday, February 14, 2006; Page A01

RICHMOND, Feb. 13 -- The Virginia Senate voted Monday to ban smoking in restaurants and virtually all other public places, an extraordinary sign of cultural change in a state that is home to the worldwide headquarters of Philip Morris and whose agricultural economy has been rooted in tobacco farming for almost 400 years.

The bill is unlikely to survive review in the House of Delegates. Yet its passage on the floor of the Senate -- where smoking has never been formally banned and lawmakers lit up openly even until the late 1990s -- signaled mounting popular support for smoking restrictions.

The chamber narrowly approved the measure after a short but intense debate over consumer choice and the public health risks of secondhand smoke.

[...]

If the Virginia bill were to become law, public areas in virtually the entire Washington region could soon be smoke-free. The D.C. Council approved a restaurant ban, which is now under review by Congress. Likewise, Montgomery and Prince George's counties have eliminated indoor smoking, and the Maryland legislature is contemplating extending the rules to workplaces statewide.

The Virginia ban would include banks, bars, educational facilities, health care facilities, hotel and motel lobbies, laundromats, public transportation, reception areas, retail food production and marketing establishments, retail services establishments, retail stores, shopping malls, sports arenas, theaters and waiting rooms. Hotels could also set aside no more than 25 percent of their rooms for smokers.

[...]


It makes one nostalgic for the good ole days of [link|http://www.heroin.org/images/opium-den.html|opium dens], doesn't it? Well, maybe not...

Cheers,
Scott.