Smoking Bans.

Chicago's new ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places is being wildy ignored according to the Washington Post. Marshall McGearty Tobacco Artisans, a "tobacco lounge" has opened in Chicago's trendy Wicker Park neighborhood. It looks like a coffeehouse, but Marshall McGearty is technically a tobacco retail shop with at least 65 percent of its sales in tobacco. Last month, city Alderman Edward M. Burke introduced an ordinance to close the loophole in the smoking ban, stating that venues that serve food and drink cannot be classified as tobacco retail stores. Burke's ordinance charges that "tobacco lounges have attempted to circumvent the power and purpose" of the smoking ban, which currently affects restaurants, music venues and other public places; bars and taverns have until 2008 to comply. Anti-smoking advocates said they think tobacco lounges ultimately will be unsuccessful in the face of growing opposition to smoking.

Similiarly, alcohol has also been banned in the past in United States history. Prohibition was any of several periods during which the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks were restricted or illegal. Prohibition began on January 16, 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect. The Temperance Movement also came along, which wanted to make alcohol illegal. Prohibitionists had some success; by 1916, legal prohibition was in effect in 26 of the 48 states. Even though the sale of alcohol was illegal, alcoholic drinks were still widely available at "speakeasies" and other underground drinking establishments, much like Marshall McGearty makes tobacco available.