Local businesses may be surprised at who comes back to visit after smoking ban

Publication Date: 2010-01-02

• Author:Editorial
• Publication:StarNewsOnline

Today, restaurants, bars and other public establishments in North Carolina will go smoke-free. What a breath of fresh air.

Passage of such milestone legislation in a state where tobacco was king of the cash crops recognizes not only changing economics and demographics, but also the established fact that smoking endangers the health of those who are forced to breathe its secondhand fumes...

Nonsmoking sections, which for years have been the solution, don't segregate nonsmokers from cigarette fumes that waft over barriers and through doors. Some studies suggest that secondhand smoke is at least as dangerous as direct inhaling. The difference is that secondhand "smokers" are inhaling against their will.

Critics of the ban argue that business owners should get to decide what's allowed on their property, and that the ban will hurt business, especially for bars. But over the years, many establishments have voluntarily banned smoking for a solid business reason: It's what their customers preferred...

For those who enjoy a cigarette with their coffee or after dinner, the new law will be inconvenient. It will anger some who now have to leave the building to light up. The rest of us will be thankful for the clean air we breathe.