Community smoking bans have an immediate and dramatic effect on reducing heart attacks, according to two new analyses of laws in the USA, Canada and Europe. Two separate analyses released Monday each found that heart attack rates fall 17% within a year after smoking bans take effect. One analysis, which included 13 studies, appears in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. A second analysis, which considered 11 studies, appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
My antagonistic attitude toward cigarette smoking has never been a secret. Those of you who have hung 'round these parts for any length of time know that whatever tolerance and patience I may possess goes straight out the window when a smoker lights up in my vicinity. Some of you may (and do) disagree with me, but I've long believed that my right to breathe clean, untobaccofied air trumps your "right" to smoke. My health should not be subverted simply so you can feed your addiction. When you can train cigarette smoke to respect personal boundaries...well, then perhaps we'll have something to talk about.
Few people in Oregon were happier than I when a statewide smoking ban become law on January 1st. Bars, restaurants- indeed, all public gathering places are now smoke-free by law. Hallelujah!! Praise Jeebus!! I can now go to a restaurant or bar and...wonder of wonders...no longer be forced to smoke vicariously through someone else's thoughtless secondhand smoke. From where I sit, this is merely as it should be. Non-smokers like myself should be able to go to public places without being subjected to someone else's inconsiderate production of secondhand smoke. Oregon's smoking ban has increased my enjoyment of being out in public immeasurably. The fact that I'm no longer assaulted by cigarette smoke is a net positive, as no non-smoker should have to fend off secondhand smoke.
An additional benefit is that smoking bans work. This fact should be in and of itself taken as proof positive that confining smokers to places where they cannot negatively impact non-smokers is good public policy. No one (even someone as militantly anti-smoking as myself) is going to argue that smoking should be banned outright, but the greater good is served by banning smoking from public places. In an era when health care reform is at the top of the lists of so many, this seems like a good place draw a line in the sand.
Don't get me wrong here. I don't hate smokers. I have friends and colleagues who smoke. It's a free country, and we all have our various and assorted addictions and compulsions to deal with. Lord knows I've been gifted with more than my fair share. If you choose to smoke, that's your choice in a free society. Just don't expect to tolerate being exposed to your secondhand smoke.
(Fade to black as Jack steps off his soapbox and shuffles off slowly stage left into the dying light....)
