Ohio ban called key in war on smoking

By JIM PROVANCE
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
With last week's landmark decision by voters to go smoke-free from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, Ohio became the first Midwestern stop on a long national journey by anti-smoking advocates.

As of Dec. 7, when Ohio's law goes into effect, more than half of the nation's population will live in states with some form of statewide ban on smoking in indoor public places.

"One day, we will have a smoke-free America," said Patrick Reynolds, grandson of the founder of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a former smoker, and now an anti-smoking activist.

He characterized passage of bans in Ohio, Arizona, and Nevada on Tuesday as the "tipping point" in the movement.

"Ohio is very important," he said "It's heartland. As Ohio goes, so goes the nation, according to popular lore. It's a bellwether state. If you can convince Ohioans, then it's an idea whose time has probably come."

The vast majority of the 16 states that have passed comprehensive bans on smoking in bars, restaurants, and other workplaces are in the Northeast and in the West, with Ohio alone in the middle.

All of Ohio's neighbors, however, have at least one city or county that prohibits indoor public smoking in some fashion.

"The society is looking at continuing this success in making other states smoke-free," said Susan Jagers, vice president for governmental relations for the American Cancer Society of Ohio.

"We judge the political climate in all states," she said. "This is one of the priorities of the society."

The legislation, which passed easily last week, generally would prohibit smoking in restaurants, bars, workplaces, and nearly all other indoor places where the public congregates.

Of 22 states with some form of statewide smoking ban, 16, including Ohio, prohibit smoking in all bars and restaurants and the vast majority of other workplaces.

While the wins in Nevada and Arizona were largely considered advancement of the Pacific front that began with California in 1995, Ohio is the new "beachhead," said Daniel Smith, the national cancer society's vice president of governmental relations.

"It's the first Midwestern state to go smoke-free," he said. "That will infect and affect other states. Now it's not just a coastal movement. It has moved to the heart of the country."

North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. funneled at least $5.4 million into the failed campaign to persuade voters to approve an alternative ban that would have written exemptions into the Ohio Constitution for bars, some restaurants, and other establishments.

The industry lost all three smoking-ban battles but succeeded in beating back higher cigarette taxes in California and Missouri.

It spent an estimated $65 million in California alone.

(Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance(at)theblade.com)