Starting Thursday, Maine’s bars will be smoke-free.

The ban actually begins after midnight tonight, but the state will give New Year’s revelers one last puff before it begins enforcing the new regulations.

No doubt, for some smokers, it will be a difficult transition. One more haven for their habit will be eliminated. But for the population as a whole, and especially for the people who work in bars and pool halls, the ban is a breath of fresh air.

The issue of smoking where people have to work is more complicated than opponents of the ban often make out. We hear the argument all the time from bar owners and patrons alike: “If you don’t like smoke, don’t go to a bar.”

But the men and women who make their living in the hospitality industry don’t have such an easy choice. It’s not about how they spend their discretionary, entertainment time. It’s about how they make their living.

It’s true that some bar workers say they don’t mind working in an environment that exposes them to a known Class A carcinogen – of which there is no safe level of exposure – even though a shift in a smoke-filled bar can be the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes.

But the state has a compelling reason to make the workplace safer, even if workers are willing to take a chance. Landing a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier or being a soldier is necessarily dangerous work. Being a bartender or waiter doesn’t have to be.

The dangers of secondhand smoke are well-established and well-known. Increased risk of cancer and heart disease are just the deadly beginning. There is also an increase in cases of asthma, respiratory infections and birth defects in children.

Smokers have tonight for one last barroom hurrah. On Thursday, they’ll have to step outside to feed their dangerous addiction.


Precarious grip


Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has been one of the United States’ most important allies during military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. For that very reason, he is a target in his own land.

His hold on power, his country’s nuclear technology and, in fact, his own life are all threatened.

Musharraf has survived two close-call assassination attempts in a matter of weeks.

Investigations in Iraq and around the world suggest that Pakistan has been one of the leading exporters of nuclear technology and expertise. The country’s weapons experts and industry, it appears, have collaborated with countries that have sought nuclear programs. That list includes North Korea and Libya.

And now Musharraf has made a deal with some of the very hard-line clerics who may be responsible for the attempts on his life: He will step down from his army post by the end of 2004.

While U.S. aid has helped secure its nuclear weapons, we must question Musharraf’s hold on the country’s arsenal if his own safety is so precarious.

It is vital to U.S. interests, and the safety of the world, that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons not fall into the hands of extremists interested in exporting terror to the rest of the world.


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