EDITORIAL: Smoke-free areas big issues in our community

In recent years, a number of restaurants, hospitals and other businesses have become “smoke-free facilities.”

I’m glad those restaurants post that information on their doors because I know which ones I won’t be opening as often. (Unless the food is especially fantastic.)

I don’t smoke, but I often eat out with people who do. My Southern etiquette won’t let me make them uncomfortable, especially if I’m the one who invited them out to dinner or lunch.

Nonetheless, this is a big issue in our community.

I’ve gotten several unsigned letters recently regarding smoke-free eateries and seen many posts about smoking on Hartsville Today. Some want outdoor dining areas to be smoke-free. Another online post says city residents should vote for mayor based on whether a candidate smokes.

Others suggest that there should be a directory or list of smoke-free places, and I’m all for that. Most smokers would be too. At least, then I’ll know where I can go when I am with certain friends and family.

The next logical question would be, “Does the City of Hartsville want a smoking ban?”

Private industry has dealt with the issue so far. Some businesses post “Smoke-free” signs or advertise to that effect.

In Florence a few years ago, several smoke-free businesses joined together to advertise in the paper that they were proudly smoke-free. A group of citizens tried to get a ban passed to no avail.

The City of Sumter succeeded in passing a smoking ordinance in April banning it from restaurants, bars, public places and workplaces.

“It is the intent of the ordinance to protect individuals who are gathering in these public areas to be in a smoke-free environment,“ said Sumter City Manager Deron McCormick in an interview with The (Sumter) Item.

In the United States, 440,000 die from smoking-related illnesses each year. Two recent large studies also suggest that cities that implement smoking bans have a decrease in the number of heart attacks of 17 percent in the first year and 26 percent in years two and three.

Thirty-one states now forbid smoking in workplaces, restaurants or bars, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

South Carolina is not one of them. Our state has few smoke-free workplace laws, according to the S.C. Tobacco Collaborative, an organization that promotes smoke-free ordinances.

That’s not a surprise given that the General Assembly can’t even pass a cigarette tax.

Smoking’s popularity has fallen nationwide. In 1965, 42 percent of Americans smoked. Today, that number’s just 20 percent.

So a smaller and smaller minority is being reprimanded for their actions. Smokers are bearing the brunt of nasty comments online along with higher taxes.

In February, the federal exise tax on cigarettes jumped more than 50 cents per pack to expand coverage to an additional 4 million low-income children under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Many times people in the fire of this debate forget that smokers vote with their dollars too. Many will drive a few extra miles to eat at a decent restaurant with a smoking section. Most don’t mind being quarantined to a back room.

Studies have shown the bans have little overall economic effect but affect certain sectors disproportionately.

“The dollar impact on the farm sector of a reduction in cigarette demand will be smaller than that experienced by manufacturing, wholesale, retail and transportation businesses, but tobacco farms and their communities may have the most difficulty adjusting. Many tobacco farmers lack good alternatives to tobacco, and they have tobacco-specific equipment, buildings and experience,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Economically, bar owners have more to lose than restaurants. Among those customers, smokers tend to spend more than nonsmokers. Probably because they are at the facility longer while they have one more cigarette (and perhaps another drink).

Smoke-free locations do help people quit smoking if they are already on that path. For others, it may help reduce the total number of cigarettes smoked.

For that, I’m glad.

While I would like my smoker friends and family to quit, I can’t take that freedom away from them. Legally, they can smoke all they want.

Last time I checked, America was about civil liberties and the rule of law.

South Carolina’s heritage is steeped in tobacco production, and it’s hard to imagine this state without the golden leaves along the roadside.

That may be in the cards depending on how involved citizens become in their communities. Will they bully individual establishments or bring the issue to the public forum for a vote?

Lisa Chalian-Rock, editor of The Messenger, can be reached by phone at (843) 332-6545 ext. 19 or by email at .