Last week, Gov. Bob Taft announced his support for Issue Five, the SmokeFreeOhio initiative proposed for the November 7 ballot. Backed by the American Cancer Society, the initiative would create smoke-free public places and workplaces statewide. Though well intentioned, SmokeFreeOhio is far too sweeping. Not only is it wrong to strip private businesses of their right to regulate such things, but any smoking ban should only take the form of a city ordinance in the first place. If Issue Five appears on the fall ballot, Ohioans should give it the response it deserves and vote it down.
Admittedly, smoking bans have worked particularly well in some major cities, with improving health standards and relatively little opposition. If all-out smoking bans must continue, they should at least remain in such localized forms. SmokeFreeOhio, on the other hand, would attempt the same thing across an entire state that features cities of varying sizes and cultures. What works for Columbus might not work for Athens, and this is the important distinction SmokeFreeOhio overlooks. In America, something like a smoking ban is controversial enough at the local level. This initiative would unnecessarily complicate the issue by trying to impose it on an entire state.
If a smoking ban must be pursued at the local level, it should be more in the vein of the proposed Smoke Less Ohio initiative, which would make needed exceptions for places like bars where the culture of smoking is so ingrained. It is the responsibility of cities to regulate smoking in such a way as will respect the freedoms of private businesses, which should be left to make their own decisions as is often already the case.
Smoking is not an illegal activity for adults and making it so is a slippery slope, even when it is based on adverse health effects. As crude as it is to say, everyone has the right to smoke as much as they have the right to drink (if they're 21) or the right to eat greasy food seven days a week.
Yet again, this legislation is borne of good intentions, but leave it to the locals. If Athens City Council decides to enact an ordinance ' which itself would be met with myriad controversies ' it would at least be in a better position to understand both the effects and the means by which to enforce such legislation.
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SmokeFreeOhio initiative stretches too far while overlooking personal responsibility
