Statewide politicians running for office this year regularly ignore one issue: Banning smoking in enclosed bars and taverns.
Part of their silence can be traced to bar and restaurant owners in Baltimore, who claim a ban would destroy their business and drive customers elsewhere.
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That used to be true. But that argument does not work anymore. Several counties in Maryland, most notably Montgomery, have banned smoking in bars and taverns, and a smoking ban in Washington will begin Jan. 1. Is momentum now swinging against smokers?
No, says Mick O?Shea?s owner and ban opponent David Niehenke. “This whole issue is like gangsta rap ? which I don?t particularly like. I don?t go to my state senator and ask that clubs stop playing this stuff, ask for them to play something more multicultural. I simply choose not to go into the place.”
Niehenke and his sister Stephanie have owned Irish pub O?Sheas on Charles Street ? a favorite haunt of Baltimore Mayor Martin O?Malley ? since 2002. Niehenke frequently attends City Council meetings on the subject and calls City Councilman Bob Curran, who sponsored a bill to ban smoking, “a joke” for pushing it.
“My bar is mobbed in spite of the smoke,” he says. “But if they enacted a ban, I can tell you it would kill my happy hour and also hurt my evening business ? it could be devastating.
“People that come out to the bar to drink and hang out now would stay home so they can smoke.”
Yet statistics show otherwise. In many places with smoking bans, revenues have actually risen within a year of one starting.
They are popular, too. New York and California have bans, as do New Jersey and Massachusetts. Maryland?s neighbors D.C. and Delaware have bans, and in Virginia a proposed ban passed in the State Senate before being defeated in a House subcommittee.
Niehenke questions numbers that show business improves after a ban. “Statistics can show anything you want them to. The statistics that show better business in those states include places like McDonald?s that never had smoking, plus while they show an overall gain, what about the effects on bars that don?t serve much food?”
The statistics also fail to factor in tax revenue. For each pack of cigarettes purchased in Maryland, the state receives $1. Naturally it becomes a money issue if many fewer packs of cigarettes are sold. But what about the health costs related to smoking each year?
A U.S. surgeon general?s report from June shows secondhand smoke is extremely dangerous to nonsmokers. And Surgeon General Richard Carmona said bans are the best way prevent exposure. “Smoke-free indoor environments are proven, simple approaches thatprevent exposure and harm,” he said.
Even the most sophisticated ventilation systems cannot completely eliminate secondhand smoke exposure, and only smoke-free environments afford full protection, he said.
While many restaurants and bars are doing the right thing and choosing to ban smoking voluntarily, as in the recent case of the uber-hip Baltimore diner Paper Moon, there is no doubt that some establishments would be hurt by making a similar commitment.
Niehenke and others are right in saying that some bars would be hurt disproportionately by a ban, especially those that don?t do much food business. But Marylanders? health is more important. The best scenario would be a statewide ban so that restaurants and bars could compete fairly.
As one of Niehenke?s employees told me: “A ban?s going to happen eventually, whether we like it or not. We?re just concerned about when and how much.”
Tom Moore is a former smoker. He lost his aunt Nancy, a lifelong smoker, to lung cancer in 1996. He hosts the AES Tom Moore Saturdays 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. on AM 680 WCBM. His Web site is www.tommooreradio.com.
