Smoking in US and your city?

[samintx]

In Tyler the smoking ban starts June 1.....and bans it in Businesses and 20 ft from doors(or something like that). Bar owners and restaurants were against it, naturnally. I just wish they would ban it from nursing homes. The nursing homes put their residents in a tiny room with an exhaust fan to smoke. You can cut the smoke with a knife.

Has your city banded smoking? The stats that Morningstar has really surprises me...that smoking has gone down to 1 in 5 from 50%.



Stats from Morningstar:
The bigger, long-term problem for all three companies is that the industry itself is in secular decline. The prevalence of cigarette smoking has decreased during the last 50 years as the American public has increasingly been made aware of the dangers associated with the habit. This has reduced the number of smokers in the U.S. from nearly half the adult population in the 1950s to roughly one in five today. Sales peaked at around 640 billion sticks (or 32 billion packs of cigarettes) in 1981, with volume declining around 2.5% per year ever since. Although the rate of decline has been closer to 3.2% per year since the MSA was signed in 1998, it had actually been trending lower (to about 3.0% annually) during the course of the last five years. That all changed this year, as first-quarter volumes declined 4%-5%. The industry now expects that rate to hold for the remainder of 2008.

[OWC Jamie]

We've had no smoking from increasingly more and more places for so long that its kinda odd to read a post where this is just being implemented.

[Black Landlord]

[quote billb]We've had no smoking from increasingly more and more places for so long that its kinda odd to read a post where this is just being implemented. Same here (Chicago).

[mikebw]

I was in Atlantic City 2 weeks ago and they still allow smoking in most areas of the Casinos, however there is a new 100% smoking ban that will be going into effect later this year. As long as they don't ban the strip clubs they should be OK.

[cbelt3]

Ohio banned smoking in all public places last year. People still smoke, but it's less convenient. As a lifelong asthmatic, I thought it was wonderful. No more 'smoking sections' that share the same air as the rest of the establishment. I can actually walk into a bar (thunk) without having to rush back out 30 seconds later for fresh air. I can take my son to the bowling alley for his friend's birthday without having to go after the Albuterol.

What I don't understand is why cigarettes just aren't totally banned. Well, OK, I do understand- it's that nice tax revenue every state gets on them, just like the tax on booze. They'd tax Hookers extra if they could.

[mjgkramer]

In March 2001, New Braunfels banned smoking in public buildings (including restaurants). Bars, or bars that are separately ventilated, and private clubs are exempt.

Here's a web site that gives some information on the subject for various parts of the US:

http://www.smokefreeworld.com/usa.shtml

Here's the page for Texas

http://www.smokefreeworld.com/texas.shtml

[ztirffritz]

Washington started a ban in all public buildings several years ago. It is fantastic. I can now go out and not come home stinking like an ashtray. Playing pool and bowling are fun again. Going out for a beer isn't such an ordeal, and restaurants are family friendly again. I know that it sucks for smokers, but I think that business has actually picked up for most businesses as a result. (no facts for this, but it sure looks like that to my eyes.)

[Ted King]

I live in a city that may have been the first one in the nation to ban smoking in public places. It became law here in 1990. It's a pretty conservative little city so it's a bit surprising that this would be the place such a thing would start.

[mattkime]

People talked in high minded ideals about what would happen here in New York when the smoking ban was implemented (including bars). What happened? EVERYONE liked it. Even smokers don't want to sit in a room full of other smokers.

[rz]

Back in 2002, Florida passed the smoking ban in restaurants and workplaces. The tourism and restaurant industries howled that this was going to kill them, since a large number of tourists (especially here in Orlando) are foreigners, who apparently smoke a lot more than Americans, and they would stop coming here if they couldn't smoke.

Didn't work that way. Once the bill passed, we never heard anything more about it. Tourism has gone up steadily over the last 6 years. In fact, there was a bar near where I work called "The Smokee Tavern", that had a big sign outside that was in the shape of a pack of cigarettes, who proudly announced that they were exempt from the ban (since they didn't serve enough food to qualify). They were open for a couple of years before they closed down.

I'm with cbelt. They should ban smoking entirely.