Looking out for its bottom line, Reynolds American Inc. poured more than $220,000 into an attempt to defeat a proposed smoke-free ordinance for Kansas City in April.
Fortunately, voters approved the measure, which will ban smoking in all bars and restaurants starting in early June.
Kansas City’s smoke-free law will not only protect the health of workers and customers in bars and restaurants; it should lead to less teen smoking.
A new study in Massachusetts indicates that eliminating smoking in restaurants helps persuade young people that their communities frown on public smoking.
“Youth living in towns with strong restaurant smoking regulations had 40 percent lower odds of starting to smoke, compared with youth living in towns with weak regulations,” researchers reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
The report concluded that smoke-free laws, especially in restaurants, “may be one of the most effective strategies” to prevent young people from starting to smoke.
Kansas City is joining Overland Park, Olathe, Independence and other area cities in enjoying the many benefits of a smoking ban for public places. And as a result, fewer young people are likely to take up the risky habit in the future.
it's not the fault of smoking bans that drunk drivers drive drunk, no matter when, where, or how far they drive. It is the fault of the drunk drivers.
How about some stricter drunk driving laws? How about we take away someone's car after a DUI? How about we enforce and strengthen the laws already on the books?
The theory that not being able to smoke makes people drink more contradicts your theory that if people cannot smoke they'll drink less.
Keep tilting at the windmills in St. Louis, Bill. Your smoking ordinance is on its way.