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November 16, 2009

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Letter: Premise behind smoke debate is nothing new

Saturday, Dec. 16, 2006 | 7:03 a.m.

David Adams' Dec. 11 letter, headlined, "Smoking is a matter of individual choice," reignited the classic debate between maximizing the free market and regulating it. We love having the freedom to make personal choices. However, there is no personal choice involved for the average consumer when deciding on the type of business premises to visit whenever smoking is in the picture.

All business owners, big or small, naturally seek to maximize their clientele, and exercising a personal choice to disallow smoking in their business premises would likely be detrimental to this effort. When few, if any, business owners can afford to opt for a smoking ban for their business premises, there are no smoke-free business premises for the consumer to pick from, either.

The need to legislate to protect the average consumer, rather than leave the free market untouched, is similarly found in predatory pricing, truth in advertising, and insider trading in the stock market.

Steve Yuen, Las Vegas

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