There are Always Exceptions

While there has been no question for patrons of Athens' restaurants and bars that they can no longer light up in their old hang outs, there is still some confusion for patrons of hookah bar establishments of how the smoking ban will effect their business. According to Ohio law, any business that generates more than 80 percent of its profit from tobacco products is exempt from smokefree workplace laws. Though this may  put most hookah bars and their owners in the clear, it is more problematic for others.

According to a widely-circulated report by the World Health Organization, smoking a hookah (also called shisha or water pipe) for just one hour can put 70% more nicotine and 100 to 200 times more smoke into one's body than smoking a single cigarette. These statistics might seem scary off the bat, but many hookah bars have since made improvements to diffuse the smokiness and to provide healthier forms of tobacco. Also, while cigarette smoking is a frequent activity (the average smoker is said to smoke about 5 cigarettes a day), smoking hookah tends to be less frequent.

I only bring up these statistics because their presentation to the public is one of the reasons that hookah bars are facing trouble. Many hookah bars are seen by customers as places to hang out with friends, eat, drink coffee or tea, study and of course, smoke hookah. Hookah "lounge" is another term used to for these businesses. Because these establishments are more than just tobacco shops and smoking stops, when store owners must bump their tobacco revenue up to 80 percent, it can be enough to change the entire environment of their business.

As more smoke-free laws have been enacted in Ohio, hookah bars have been coming up with ways to get around them, avoiding having to make major changes in their business that might alientate customers. For hookah bars that already comply with the 80 percent quota, like Pharaos in Athens (located on Mill Street), there doesn't seem to be a problem under the new laws. Other businesses, like the Shisha Lounge in Columbus, have had to replace food products and drinks with cigarette vending machines to get their revenue up from 2/3. Some hookah bars that serve food and drink have divided into two different businesses, one side for smoking and one as the restaurant area as a loophole. Many OU students that I talked to who frequent Pharaos said they liked the whole atmosphere of hookah lounges, and having to downsize certain aspects to make them strictly tobacco businesses would effect the experience.

If tobacoo businesses are pressured to up their push tobacco, they may rob their patrons of the evironment that brings them in the first place. Is 80 percent too much to demand of businesses that clearly make a substantial living from tobacco products already. These lounges are the last havens for cigarette and hookah smokers and soon they will be turned into nothing more than tobacco stores. The irony is that we will end up with more places to buy hookah and tobacco, and less places to use it.

Additional links:

1. A critique of WHO's report on Hookah tobacco: why it is flawed.
2. Hookah compared to cigarettes

Communists, Socialists and Adolf Hitler

It’s as if we’ve been raised as Americans to believe that when things get controversial, we’ve always got an argument. As children we know to say, ‘I can do what I want, because it’s a free country.” Even then, we’re aware of our “rights” whether or not we are knowledgeable of them.

As we grow older, and become knowledgeable enough to understand how we acquire our rights, though the U.S. Constitution, it seems that many of us still use this form of self-serving logic. Whether we be for or against abortion, gun control or death by firing squad it seems that everyone has the their own interpretation of the Constitution. And in every case, it’s on OUR side. The case for smoking rights is no exception.

In my last entry, I mentioned the ODH hearing to be held in Columbus that would discuss future penalties of the Ohio smoking ban. These penalties, to be enacted statewide in the next few weeks, are at the heart of the controversy for those who have fought the ban. At last Tuesday’s hearing, opposition to the ban became so violent that two representatives of American Cancer Society were actually advised to leave the hearing early for their own protection from the violent crowd. And what were these protesters arguing so adamantly? What was their case? Smoker’s rights. Here is an excerpt from Wednesday's article in the Columbus Dispatch that covered the hearing:

“The president of the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association told the
health department that depriving patrons of the right to smoke in bars
ultimately would deprive bar owners of their property by forcing them out of
business, which would usurp their property rights.

And a parade of other business owners and smokers said the ban tramples on basic freedoms. Three mentioned communism and socialism, and one invoked the name of Adolf Hitler.”

This first argument, that a smoking ban usurps the property rights of business owners is just one example of using the Constitution as support for smoker’s rights. As for comparing state of Ohio’s infringement of smoker’s rights to some kind of Socialist regime or Hitler’s Nazi Germany, well, even in context that just seems a bit excessive...

While it is true that a smoking ban makes a stigma on smoking almost inevitable, and many smokers and businesses will face major inconvenience and/or financial difficulty, the point is, there is nothing clearly stated in the U.S. Constitution that guarantees a smoker rights in the first place. In fact, short of the claim by Native Americans that smokefree laws interfere with religious practices and freedoms (which is an exception being looked into by Ohio and other state governments), there are no strong legal arguments for smokers rights.

Although we know the liberties of the United States were created to protect us, oftentimes we still can’t help but think of the “us” as it pertains to the specific “me” rather than the collective “we”. It is easy to view smoking with the childhood argument of, “It’s a free country.” But for smokers, it seems as if the Constitution is not on our side.

(more on the First Amendment and the FDA)

The Basics of Issue 5

There are smokers. Although, nowadays, they might be harder to find. The tables and bars of Athens have cleared out their ashtrays. The smoke at restaurants has also vanished, and “no smoking” signs on buildings serve as reminders of where there’s smoke…and where there’s not.

With the passing of the Smoke Free Workplace Act in November 2006, the rules about where people can smoke in public places and places of employment have changed. Ohio University students, store owners and Athens residents have noticed both immediate and gradual changes as the city has attempted to comply with the stipulations of Issue 5.
Here is a summary of the Smoke Free Work Place Act as it now applys to Athens:

• There is no smoking in public places or places of employment.
• “No smoking” signs must be posted at every entrance of every building where smoking is prohibited.      
  
• Ashtrays and must be removed from any area where smoking is prohibited.

Although the Ohio smoking ban went into effect December 7, with 58 percent voter approval, the proposals for rules and penalties for the statewide smoking ban are still in the process of being decided by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Because these final rules are still being crafted, on February 27th, a public hearing will be held in Columbus, OH for Ohio citizens to propose to rules and make comments and suggestions about the smoking ban to the ODH. Still, whenever a law attempts to apply fines and penalties when a sweeping and sudden change is expected on such a scale, the effectiveness and enforcement of that law is always called into question.

What it comes down to is, if this IS the law that Ohio voters wanted, how happy are they with their decision? More importantly, if this is the right law, and many think it is, how harsh should we be on smokers? Or, how harsh can we be without being unreasonable. Where there's smoke... there's a 500 dollar fine? It's true that any respectable smoker wouldn't even pause between drags for only a lecture or a slap on the wrist. But you can't very well send Smokey Joe to jail for not standing the required 20 feet away from the entrance of a Starbucks either...