Stats from New York City Buoy Washington State Anti-Smoking Initiative

Publication Date: 2005-02-18

• Author:Eli Sanders
• Publication:The Stranger

Even though anti-smoking activists in Washington were hit with a setback last week when the state supreme court threw out Tacoma-Pierce County's smoking ban because it violated state law (businesses have the right to designate smoking areas), the activists took heart. State law can be changed.
For the second year in a row, a signature campaign bypassing the reluctant Washington legislature (Rep. Joe McDermott's bill to ban smoking at bars and restaurants was looking dead on arrival in Olympia) would ask citizens to put the question of an indoor smoking ban directly on the November ballot. While a similar campaign last year failed to gather enough signers (they need 225,000 this year), anti-smoking advocates--which include the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, and American Heart Association--say they've started earlier and are better funded...