For the past few weeks, the city councilors held public meetings, lobbied and debated a possible smoking ban in public places of Albuquerque. This includes restaurants, bars, bowling alleys...basically everywhere. The public split into two distinct categories. On one side, people cried out that smoking is a health issue. Second hand smoke is deadly and should be avoided at all costs. The other side maintained that smoking is a right, and that it is up to owners of businesses whether they want to allow smoking in their buildings. So there you have it--health issue or owner's privilege. Much like everything else political in this country, you get only two options.

Before I tell you what happened with the city council vote, allow me to say what my personal feelings are about smoking. Due to the malevolence of big tobacco, smoking cigarettes has gotten a bad rap. Because of their intentional and hidden efforts to heighten the effects of nicotine and keep people addicted, much of the public has gotten the impression that smoking is just an evil and tragic habit that will eventually kill you. No benefits, no pleasure, just evil. They also believe that second hand smoke is somehow going to kill them just as quickly. Even a whiff of a cigarette has shortened their life by minutes.

I was at a cast party for a play recently at a nearby house. Dozens of college kids roaming around, drinking, shouting and smoking. I sat on the sofa, and it wasn't long before every pot head whipped out their stash and started loading pipe after pipe. Being a pot head myself, I smoked only one out of every three pipes to come my way, and I was still smoked out in the matter of minutes. No one complained about marijuana smoke filling the air and lungs of those who did not partake. After what seemed like an hour, I peeled myself off the sofa to go outside. I walked out the front door to find eight to ten people huddled in the cold. They were hunched over and smoking their cigarettes outside. They had naturally relegated themselves to scapegoat status. The public had already assimilated them into thinking that they had to be outside in the cold to smoke tobacco. Society has much more influence than politics.

I don't smoke cigarettes (a combined two or three a year), but I must be honest, I like those who do. Many of the most interesting conversations I have with people occur when they are smoking. One of my ex-girlfriends always broke her non-smoking streak when I came around to visit. Another refused to go until she had had her post-coital clove cigarette. I never complained. Smoking cigarettes heightens the senses. The first few puffs cause the smoker to kick their mind into another gear. This is why coffee and cigarettes often go together. I allow passengers to smoke in my cab, even though the majority of cabbies in town do not. My feeling is that with the price these people are paying for me to drive them around town, they can spark up whatever makes them keep their mind off the meter. When they are gone, I keep the windows down for a little while, and the smell goes away.

Smoking tobacco has sacred qualities. I attended a sweat lodge this Friday, and after the third round of introspection and sweating, it is customary to take puffs of organic tobacco off the peace pipe. It helps the prayers speed on their journey. Some people abstained, and others like me puffed out our blessings. Unlike regular cigarettes, this tobacco was smooth and pleasant. I wasn't worried about second hand smoke, my health, the rights of owners or any of that. It was ceremonial and sacred. Over the years, Americans abandoned any sort of purpose to smoking. Now, it is just a dirty and ugly habit that we debate.

So what became of all the debating of the city council? With a vote on Wednesday, they voted five to four that the owners had the right to decide whether to allow smoking in their facilities. Then they made amendments to vote. Then they revoted. Then they reamended. Then they revoted and decided that voters, not the city councilors, should decide the issue. So nothing was decided. My city councilors once again proved their ineptness to make a decision on a public issue. It will be on the ballot next October. I truly believe politicians do much more damage to our city than second hand smoke.

So until next October, smokem if you gottem. In the last ten years, I have noticed that considerably fewer people smoke in bars, restaurants, and in public. Society has forced smokers to change more than any mandatory order from the city. I personally believe that if you can't enjoy a cigarette in a bar where drinking and other sins regularly occur, then it won't be too long before we are all sitting across the table from each other with nothing to say, no inspiration, and no sins to partake. But we will all be cleaner, healthier, and live longer as the most boring people on Earth.

Chris Jungle loves the little sinners, all the little sinners of the world.