Published: May 15, 2009 03:02 pm      

Not in N.C. — 05/17/09

Tobacco state limits smopking

What many deemed politically impossible just a few months ago has happened: Legislators in North Carolina — the nation’s top tobacco producing state — have approved a bill banning smoking in bars and restaurants.

Last year, farmers in the Tar Heel State produced $686 million worth of tobacco, nearly half the value of the entire U.S. output.

On the same day, a smoking ban was being approved in North Carolina, a similar ban was being approved by legislators in Wisconsin. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia now have approved statewide bans on smoking in bars and restaurants, and four more — Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Virginia — will do so by the end of the year. Florida, Idaho and Nevada ban smoking in restaurants, but not bars.

The trend clearly is for states to restrict smoking in public, but bills to impose statewide restrictions on smoking have not gained any traction in the Kentucky General Assembly. At the same time, after a flurry of successful efforts to restrict smoking in public in Kentucky cities and counties, similar efforts in other communities have hit something of a brick wall.

Will the Kentucky General Assembly ever impose a statewide restriction on smoking in public? While we don’t see such a law being approved anytime soon, we have learned to never say never. After all, if North Carolina legislators can be convinced to limit public smoking, then nothing is impossible — even in Kentucky.