Ricardo J Gonzalez for a Better America

The Chicago International Pipe and Tobacciana show, which was held in St. Charles, Illinois this past weekend, is a yearly event that has been held in the Chicagoland area for the past 12 years. Pipe and tobacco vendors from across the world come to show off their latest creations in what really is a display of artistic craftsmanship.

The show, which featured over 300 vendors from across the world, ran into a bit of a hitch this year. While the event's planners were very careful to ensure that the event would comply with all smoking rules, they were still prohibited from smoking inside the event hall where the show was taking place.

The law against smoking, whose enforcement started on January 1st of this year, was intended to make it

makes it safe for people to visit or work in restaurants and bars without putting their health at risk.

. The CPCC, which hosts the event, made sure that there was no chance that people who did not wish to be exposed to second-hand smoke, did not. They required all attendees to be members of the organization and to sign waivers that they were of legal age to smoke, and understood all of the risks associated with first, second, and third hand smoke inhalation. As a secondary precaution, they set up an outdoor tent for those who just wanted to hang out and smoke a pipe, but didn't need to be in the exhibition hall. In essence, if the intended purpose was to prevent non-smokers from being unwillingly exposed to the health risks of secondhand smoke, the CPCC went above and beyond what they should have to do, in order to ensure that this didn't happen.

Yet still, they were not allowed to smoke at their event. The Chicago Tribune reports Mike Grady of the American Cancer Association describing the efforts of the CPCC to ensure that the patrons understand what they're getting into as an attempt to "actually underminde the law through legal sophistry". I wouldn't call what the CPCC was doing an attempt to undermine the law. I would call it a strong effort to make sure that the spirit of the law was carried through. But aparently it has become acceptable in this country to take away people's freedom to associate in whichever peaceful way they see fit, as long as you're protecting them from something they don't want to be protected against.

So why smoking was still disallowed, even though they took every step imaginable to ensure that people concerned about the health risks would not enter ground zero of second-hand tobacco smoke? Again from the Tribune article:

Grady said that if smoking were allowed in the convention hall, harmful contaminants would remain in the air even after the pipe collectors' event ended and could pose a health risk to others

So aparently, tobacco smoke is the environmental equivalent of toxic waste. Any location in which it was ever present, should probably be declared a national disaster area.

Absolutely ridiculous.