Here’s a truly disheartening story from Edmonton:

“ A “sober bar” that caters to recovering alcoholics was told Thursday to get a liquor licence and start serving alcohol if it wants to let customers smoke.

A city bylaw inspector’s warning creates a painful Catch-22 for the owners of north-side Keep it Simple club. If they stay dry and ban smoking, they say they’ll lose 90 per cent of their business.”

The bar’s owners duly applied for a liquor license, and this is what happened:

“The Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission refused to issue them a licence Thursday, because they weren’t planning to actually sell liquor.

“They weren’t looking for a liquor licence, they were looking for a smoking licence,” said Alberta Gaming spokeswoman Marilyn Carlyle-Helms.”

Just another reminder that, when government gets involved, no good deed goes unpunished.

Via blogger Colby Cosh.