I can honestly say that it'd take a Chicago E2 catastrophe (21 People die in Stampede towards doors) before the Guv's greedy owners start paying attention to capacity by-laws and fire regulations. Every time a big headliner is there they cram as many possible patrons in there to maximize profits.

Bearing this in mind I won't go to a GUV party until things change, Ferry, Armin even PVD (although he hates Guv and will more likely than not be a Viva DJ on future trips i.e. April 20th [unconfirmed]).

So the Guv can do whatever it wants. I'm a Viva Patriot through and through. And now that Lotus has been exposed fo rthe Sham it is, even more so.

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Indeed ottawa is smoke free. I think it happened here last year and when it passed through there was a HUGE uproar in the bar industry. I think at the time it was only the second canadian city behind halifax or something to implement it. I didnt know about waterloo durafei so maybe im a little off. Anyway the point is..innitially the bars felt naked. Like they were really missing something. But you get used to it and really begin to appreciate it. I mean I come back from clubs in montreal and I have to actually have two or even three showers before I get the smell out of my hair.

edit maybe it was two years ago..

The by-law passed quite a while ago because it was when Atomic was still open (they actually placed part of the blame of it closing on that but I highly doubt it).
But anyways, I totally love no smoking in restuarants and bars and clubs. At least when I come home I can still talk and my eyes aren't burning. People that are smokers still find a way to smoke anyhow (like go outside or go to the designated smoking area) so I don't think its that horrible for them and I think they would still buy cigarettes if they run out.

They brought in a smoke-free law in California several years ago and when I was there it was definitely strange to be in a club and have the air so clean. Can't wait!

LKD, like Durafei, I saw an obscene number of smokers in Europe. Spain and Belgiam were just nuts. Can't remember how bad it was in the other places I visited. As for middle east, I can tell you that in Iran a huge number of people, including young people, smoke. I don't know which country you were in, but my guess would be that it was just your particular group of friends. Look at the statistics for Canada:

http://www.statcan.ca/english/Pgdb/health07b.htm

American numbers are similar:

http://www.americanheart.org/presen...identifier=4559

Somewhat higher for UK:

www.nosmokingday.org.uk/facts_figures.htm

Some Stats for Sweden, Denmark and Norway:

http://www.northerner.com/snus_info.html

Can't be bothered to look for more, but I bet you stats are even higher for most other countries. Surprisingly, Swedend seems to have the lowest rate of the ones I've seen (17%) compared to 21.5% for Canada. The Stats for Canada above don't even show the numbers in the yound population to be much higher than the average, so your observations are probably not representative of the population.

As for tobacco sponsorship, I guess it depends on whether they are counting on people buying the cigarettes outside because of the advertising they get inside, or simply that when you're stuck buying that brand in clubs, you might migrate to it even if it's not your usual. I have no idea which it is, but if it's the latter, then Itikia's probably right. Would make sense if that's what happened in the UK.