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This Speakout has not been edited

By Mark Johnson, M.D., M.P.H., executive director, Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment

In 1998 when three restaurants went voluntarily smoke-free in Jefferson County as part of the public health department's "Ahead of the Pack" Project, it made the news. People were concerned these businesses would lose customers and have to shut their doors. That didn't happen and people noticed. That helped mark the beginning of a change in sentiment about smoke-free policies. When Arvada passed a smoke-free law in 2005 which included parks, trails and outdoor patio areas of restaurants, some thought it was too stringent, but other Colorado communities noticed and followed in Arvada's footsteps. Now, prohibiting smoking in these outdoor areas is a growing trend in communities across the nation. When the Pueblo Heart Study results were released in 2006 showing that Pueblo's smoke-free law resulted in a 27 percent reduction in acute myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), people noticed. And, when a recent study by the State Tobacco Education and Prevention Partnership showed that air pollution in bars and restaurants has improved by nearly 70 percent since the Clean Indoor Air Act took effect, people noticed again.

We have passed an important milestone regarding public knowledge and sentiment about the harms of secondhand smoke: the greatest majority of us now know that secondhand smoke is a health threat and believe it is important to protect ourselves and others from exposure. Not only are nearly all of us protected from smoke exposure at our worksites, more and more of us are adopting smoke-free rules for our homes and autos. The most recent data from the Tobacco Attitudes and Behaviors Survey (TABS) show that eighty two percent of Jefferson County households had smoke-free home rules in 2005 compared to 78 percent in 2001. That's an increase in protection from secondhand smoke in the home for more than 55,000 individuals in our County in just four years' time.

There is more work to do to, but the efforts to raise awareness and implement protections are working. Our state's smoke-free law continues to help improve public health in Colorado and people are noticing.

READER COMMENTS

I can`t wait for Colorado casinos, most of which are at pretty high elevations, to go smoke free.

That will give them one more attraction to beat out the Nevada casinos that take 6 or more hours to get to.

Worst Prez ever?

But Clinton doesn't have a w in his name. Very confusing.

awww yes, the drumbeat of the Nazi Socialists... Ve know vhat is best for you! Ve Vill tell you want you can do vith your property and what you can do with your life!

Bow to the state, peon!

I see more and more people removing the W stickers from their cars. I guess it is embarrassing to admit your responsibility in electing the worst President ever.

"Liberty is the very last idea that seems to occur to anybody in considering any political or social proposal. It is only necessary for anybody for any reason to allege any evidence of any evil in any human practice, for people to instantly suggest that the practice should be suppressed by the police."
G.K. Chesterton (1920).
I can't say it any better. What's next? Do we have to stop breathing out Carbon Dioxide to save the Ozone layer? Common sense, courtesy, and free choice...Not more laws...please!!!!

I also wonder what the next "evil" thing is going to be.
I vote for all the idiots who still have bumper stickers on their cars from the last Presidential election.
Kerry/Edwards LOST. Don't force me to look at continued evidence of your failed political beliefs when I'm stuck in traffic for hours on end!!

I remember how smokers acted when I was growing up. They smoked in theaters, and you'd have to see the movie through the reeking haze. They would smoke up and down the aisles of grocery stores (so much for the tantalizing scent of fresh bread or produce!). They would smoke their way through department stores, and stores routinely had to deal with burn marks in clothing, ashes dropped on merchandise, etc. In restaurants you might just be served your food when the guy at the next table would light up his cigarette and blow the smoke your way. In 1975 they even smoked in my chemistry class at UCD during an exam!

Smokers were so heedless of others, and to this day they can't smell their own poisonous stink very well, so they wonder what's all the fuss? I suffered from innumerable pounding headaches growing up because I'm allergic to smoke. How would they have liked it if I sprayed hairspray in their face, simply because it gave ME pleasure?

The increasingly stringent rules on tobacco usage in public places are to be celebrated by all of the innocent people who are otherwise hurt. By their habit, smokers are exterminating themselves and becoming an ever-smaller minority. That's grim, but we didn't stick the coffin nails in their mouths.

Progress toward a more intolerant society. Just about done with tobacco...what's next on the list of "annoying things my fellow citizen does" ? I vote for SUV's.

While I applaud the efforts to protect children and those at risk from second-hand smoke, I am still of the opinion that these laws infringe of the rights of those of us who did indulge in the devil weed (tobacco). As a smoker, I have been watching this issue with great interest since its inception. In essence, the ordinances and laws don't effect me as much as those who MUST light up in a public eating establishment. I don't light up in the immediate presence of children. I don't light up if asked politely not to. I don't light up in the presence of someone with breathing problems. And it doesn't harm me not to. It's called courtesy, smokers and not an infringement of rights.

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