Home of the Marlboro Man goes smokefree today: Michigan, not so much

LANSING -- Today is not only the first day of December, but it also marks the day that the smoking ban in the largest tobacco growing state in the nation goes into effect.

In Virginia, the home of the Marlboro Man and the largest cigarette factory in the world, you can no longer light up in a bar. The ban, approved in March, excludes private clubs and restaurants with separate rooms with independent ventilation systems, as well as open-air outside areas.

It makes the Michigan Legislature’s inaction even more disgraceful and disappointing, and we are one of only 13 backward states that does not have a workplace smoking ban.

Since the House approved House Bill 4377 last May with bipartisan support, there has been zero action on the bill, despite overwhelming support both in the Legislature and from the general public.

The Campaign for Smokefree Air launched the “Act Now or Forever Hold Your Breath” grassroots campaign aimed at refocusing lawmakers’ attention back to protecting Michigan residents from the deadly impact of secondhand smoke in October, and it may be showing some results. The rumor in Lansing is that the bill may be taken up soon.

Contact your Legislator and urge them to both take up the bill and vote for it when legislative leaders actually allow an up or down vote.

Tobacco-rich North Carolina approves workplace smoking ban

.The news in Michigan is that the much sought after and popular workplace smoking ban, including bars and restaurants, is stalled in the Michigan Legislature, but the news in tobacco-rich North Carolina is that the state House just approved a ban last week on smoking in work places and restaurants.

North Carolina is home of the J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the second-largest tobacco company in the United States, and maker of such well-known cigarette brands as Camel, Pall Mall, Kool, Winston, Salem and Doral. For a baby-boomer like me, those products are household names after years of heavy advertising on every medium available. A smoking ban in North Carolina is comparable to a ban on driving automobiles on ozone action days in Michigan or gambling in Nevada.

This comes just a month after news that the home of the largest cigarette manufacturer in the U.S. and home of the Marlboro man enacted a smoking ban when Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine signed the bill into law in March.

North Carolina’s law is far from perfect, and it has its problems, including exempting bars. But it is a start, and it is more than Michigan has. If the two largest tobacco producing states can ban indoor smoking, why can’t Michigan?

The North Carolina law also exposes the danger of not enacting a complete ban and instead making exceptions like Michigan is considering. The N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association is vowing to fight the bill as it moves on to the Senate because they fear patrons will choose to grab some bar food and enjoy a cigarette rather than visit a restaurant and go without a smoke. However, they also ignore the peer-reviewed studies that show that’s simply not true and how less than 24 percent of the population carries so much economic clout.

This situation is very similar to Michigan, and you have to wonder if the Restaurant and Lodging Association ever supported the bill. In Michigan, the Restaurant Association has fought any smoking ban bill tooth and nail, despite what its members think.

I’ll keep an eye on this to see if Michigan or North Carolina becomes the 36th state to enact an indoor smoking ban.

Home of the Marlboro Man bans smoking in restaurants

In what surely must be a sign that the time has come for Michigan to enact a workplace smoking ban that includes bars and restaurants, Virginia became the 35th state to ban smoking in bars and restaurants when Gov. Timothy Kaine signed the bill into law on Monday.

Banning indoor smoking in Virginia is almost like banning gambling in Nevada. Virginia has grown tobacco for 400 years, and the home of the Marlboro man – before he died of lung cancer – is the home of the largest cigarette factory in the world.

The bill is far from perfect because it bans smoking in restaurants unless they have an enclosed smoking room with independent air ventilation. The bill was a compromise between health advocates who wanted an unconditional restaurant smoking ban and conservatives who hold the mistaken belief that this is a choice issue and that restaurant owners should be allowed to decide whether it is in their business interests to ban smoking. But it’s far better than what we have in Michigan. This favors restaurants that have more money to install the equipment.

The so-called “free market” people ignore the new studies that are constantly being released that show the deadly and harmful effects of secondhand smoke.

This is a public health issue, not a free market issue.

It’s time for Michigan to do the right thing and pass the workplace smoking ban.