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I am from Cincinnati, Ohio and moved up here to Lansing about 3 years ago. I love going home and going out to a bar or a club and being able to breathe. I also enjoy not smelling bad after I leave the bar.

When I go out here in Michigan, I can't breathe AFTER I enter the bar. And I have my asthma under control. I take my prescribe asthma medication and still suffer at the bars.

The fact that this girl only worked at this bar FURTHER proves this study. When you don't take your asthma medication as prescribed and start having breathing problems that are caused by a trigger such as allergies (SMOKE) or infections it's a hard hill to climb back up to normal lung function. This girl struggled with her asthma all the time before working in the bar, but the NEW added trigger of the second-hand smoke was the final nail in her literal coffin. I am willing to guarentee you that if this young lady would have not been employed at this bar she would have gone through the same cycle of asthmatic troubles year after year ALIVE until she either started religiously taking her medication or was harmed by a different asthma trigger.

Smoke can trigger an asthma attack. PERIOD. And I understand she was not properly taking her medication and was having difficulties before entering the bar. But if someone was on fire would you throw gasoline on them? Smoke didn't start that fire...it just made it worse. Sure the smoke in the bar didn't cause her asthma but as an asthmatic the simple truth is it didn't help her asthma.

We all know smokers have their rights, but guess what... so do I. I didn't choose to have asthma. But I do choose not to smoke because of my asthma. And I have the right to go to the bar just as much as the next person. And I don't think I should have to take an extra hit off my inhaler (which is intended for emergency use) because someone else was so self-conscience at one time in their life to "fit in" and "be cool" that they started smoking and now can't stop even for one evening. And it's not like you don't even have to not smoke! Just do the polite thing and go outside. I don't go up to you and rip a stinking fart in your face, so don't put your gross HEALTH HARMING smoke in mine. But that's the thing about you Michigan folk, you are so far distanced from the South and their manners and morals that you don't even consider the fact that smoking indoors is rude, let alone unhealthy.

My challenge to the nay-sayers is this:
Go on a road trip to one of the many states who have outlawed smoke in bars. Have a nice night, have a couple drinks and whine about having to go outside and freeze while you take a smoke break... and at the end of the night you will still appreciate the fact that your eyes don't burn, your clothes smell like you and that you aren't coughing.

We all have seen the effects of long-term second-hand smoke, but it's about time that people can see what I feel like everytime I go out to a Michgan bar. It's just a shame someone had to lose their life to prove a point like this.