Minnesota Doctors: No Ice Cream for You

This weekend at the ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) meeting in Chicago at least two booths had signs telling doctors from Minnesota that to comply with state law please don't take our ice cream.

This is according to a report in Fortune News Feed at both the Eli Lilly and Novartis booths had signs asking doctors from Minnesota and some government employees not to indulge in their small give aways. (Novartis a soap dish, and Lilly frozen yogurt)

This is a classic example of how utterly ill thought out these gift bans-limits are.   Please, name me one other industry that has these types of restrictions, even at FOSE(the government computer show) there are no shortages of trinkets or ice cream,.  Yet now states are in the act (more each year), to make it so doctors have no incentive to stop by an exhibit booth to learn from a rep. 

Please help me understand how these bans help patients or save anything, but potentially embarrass doctors from those states.  Does anyone think for a minute that a doctors judgment is forever impaired because they stopped by a booth and got ice cream or a soap dish.... please....