Up In Smoke
Here we go again! The anti-smoking people are back and they are pushing for a total smoking ban at both the state and local level here in Indianapolis, however it seems their efforts have already gone up in flames even before they were able to really get out of the gate.
At the state level they have been met by lawmakers who are too busy dealing with creating jobs, addressing the $1.2 billion structural budget deficit and reforming education.
At the local level, anti-smoking advocates have spent at least $100,000 on a media campaign that only generated eight calls to the Mayor’s Office pushing for a total ban. In addition, a number of calls have been left on the voice mails and answering machines of City-County Councilors telling them to vote for a smoking ban. Of course it would probably be more effective if the calls came from the 317 area code as opposed to 515; that’s central Iowa in case you were wondering. And even if a proposed smoking ban were to make it to the full Council there aren’t enough votes to pass it.
And for those folks who think a change in the Mayor’s Office and Council in 2011 will change things it likely won’t. There’s some discussion that if a statewide ban is passed there will be exemptions for private clubs, tobacco shops and cigar bars and there will be language included that would prohibit local governments from enacting bans more restrictive than the state. So that should be fun to watch.
If the anti-smoking people really want to make a difference, they would put a halt to the moral presumptiveness and focus on working with bar owners and the service industry to reduce smoking by helping promote tobacco cessation programs. They would get a lot further, find a lot more people who agree with them, and not literally take thousands of dollars and send it up in flames.
