NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — The Arkansas Indoor Clean Air Act of 2006 banned smoking in most workplaces, with the main exemption being for businesses whose customers must be 21 or older to enter.
It’s a good law. It allows families to breathe quality air while spending quality time together at a restaurant, for example. It also protects many workers from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
At the same time, the law preserves the choice that bar and tavern owners have always had of whether toallow their customers - all of them adults - to light up while enjoying their drink of choice.
The law isn’t restrictive enough for some, however.
The Northwest Arkansas Tobacco Free Coalition is pushing for a city ordinancein Fayetteville that would eliminate smoking in bars and night clubs.
The group cites a survey of 1,000 Fayetteville residents showing that 64 percent favor such an ordinance. At least a few City Council members support the idea, too.
America is slowly but surely intensifying the squeeze on smokers. On Tuesday, for instance, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed into law a ban on smoking in that city’s parks, beaches, public plazas and boardwalks. Meanwhile, an increasing number of employers nationwide are demanding that job seekers be tobacco-free as a condition of employment.
We don’t care for cigarettes, and we support the smoking restrictions that already have been passed.
But bars? We’re talking about places for adults only.
Places, by the way, that adults freely choose to visit in order to relax and have a good time.
Do we wish everyone would make healthier choices?
Of course.
We wish people would stop smoking. We wish people would eat more vegetables and fewer cookies. We wish people would exercise more.
But there’s preaching, and then there’s meddling.
Legislation isn’t the answer for everything.
Fayetteville already offers several smoke-free bars for those who want nothing to do with nicotine. If so many people desire smoke-free bars, the free market will eventually extinguish the smoking ones.
We can muster some sympathy for the bartenders and others who currently work under a haze of smoke.
Then again, nobody is being forced to work anywhere they feel uncomfortable or unhealthy. It might be inconvenient or challenging to find another job, but they can do it.
Most smokers don’t have to be told about the risks that accompany their habit; they should be aware by now. Let’s allow them at least one place to go to smoke if they so choose.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/28/2011