April 24, 2006 8:59 AM

Like it or not, it's the wave of the future

Small-Town America Joins No-Smoking Trend (via AMERICAblog)

On Friday night while trying to enjoy a simple dinner out, two guys at the table next to us chain smoked and even holding their cigarette hand about six inches away from us. Smokers have set themselves up for the grassroots movements around the world and have only their own behavior to blame for the bans.

It’s a movement that’s began small but seems to be picking up momentum. People who don’t smoke don’t want to be forced to breathe the second-hand smoke of those who do. Those of us who believe that our right to breathe clean, un-tobbacofied air are beginning to band together, resulting in an increasing number of cities and municipalities banning smoking in public places. We are becoming increasingly better organized, and our voice more powerful and difficult to ignore.

The reality is that I should not be forced to breathe air polluted by someone else’s cigarette smoke. If smokers devised a way to indulge their habit without adversely impacting those around them…hey, knock yourselves out, y’al…. Until then, however, I’m sticking to my guns, as are an increasing number of non-smoking Americans.

Cigarette smoking is an insidious invasion of the privacy of non-smokers, and more of us are becoming less and less tolerant of this invasion of our privacy and personal space. Smoke does not respect personal boundaries, or even the boundaries of non-smoking sections. If a person is smoking in the vicinity, the odds are very good that I’m going to smell it and end up inhaling at least a small amount of second-hand smoke.

While this may smack of discrimination or social engineering to some, to me it’s more of a public health issue- more specifically, my own health. If I choose not to breathe cigarette smoke, then I shouldn’t have to. And while I cannot defend this argument on anything more substantial than emotional grounds, I strongly believe that my right to breathe clean air trumps your right to smoke.

This is not my excuse to discriminate against smokers; it’s my attempt to force the act of smoking into a corner, a place where it does not impact my right to breathe clean air. If you choose to smoke and can figure out how to keep it from impacting those non-smokers around you, more power to you.

LUVERNE, Ala. - If New York City can ban smoking in bars and restaurants, why not the town of Luverne?

“We don’t see why a small rural town can’t do the same thing,” said Al Snellgrove, a former Luverne councilman who helped enact the ban last year.

The town’s residents adapted, said Mark Grant, a smoker who owns Luverne’s Our House restaurant. He’s only had to tell a couple of people to put out their smokes, both visitors passing through.

Some locals still grumble. “It’s a small community,” Grant said. “They’ve got to have something to complain about.”

Love them or hate them, smoking bans are popping up all over.

Last year, five states and 82 towns, cities and counties approved smoking bans, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, a California-based non-profit considered to have the best data on the issue.

It would appear that this snowball is gaining momentum, and it’s a promising sign. When something gains traction in small-town America, particularly in the South, it’s a pretty safe bet that it will be spreading to other parts of the country.

All together, 17 states now have no-smoking laws in effect, as do 461 towns, cities and counties elsewhere. The latest state to join the trend was New Jersey, with a new law that took effect April 15. That means it’s now illegal to smoke in about 43 percent of U.S. bars, restaurants and workplaces. And at many other job sites, employers have voluntarily barred smoking in enclosed spaces.

Public health advocates are pleased not just by the volume of bans but also the geographic diversity. Legislating towns include Sitka, Alaska; Laramie, Wyo; Victoria, Texas; Sulphur, La.; Pine Bluff, Ark.; Gainesville, Ga., and Timnath, Colo. (population 223).

In Alabama, bans took effect last year in Birmingham, Cottonwood, Headland and Luverne. Citronelle instituted a ban last month. Opelika has one kicking in next month.

“It’s the trend, and we’ve caught the train,” said Barry Riddle, tobacco prevention coordinator for the Alabama Department of Public Health.

It’s more than a trend, said Peter Jacobson, a University of Michigan professor of health law and policy.

“In the Deep South, states traditionally have not welcomed this kind of regulation,” Jacobson said. “This suggests to me that all the tobacco control efforts made in the last two decades have permeated and changed the culture.”

Non-smokers are no longer willing to be innocent bystanders as our lungs are polluted by the toxins inhaled and exhaled by smoker.

If you smoke, I’m sorry that your life is becoming more difficult. What I’m not sorry about is the reality that your habit, your addiction, is becoming progressively less socially acceptable. The public’s health can, should, and does trump your “right” to smoke, and while I would never advocate for an outright ban on the act of smoking, I’m all for reducing the places where smoking is legal. This is progress, and we as a society deserve it.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on April 24, 2006 8:59 AM.

Truth is never absolute when you're a Republican zealot was the previous entry in this blog.

Thirdly, I believe that we have the God-given right to force our system on the rest of the world is the next entry in this blog.

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