This AP lede says it all: LUVERNE, Ala. - If New York City can ban smoking in bars and restaurants, why not the town of Luverne?
The story details how smoking bans have moved out of the realm of high profile cities and into towns across America.
Last year, five states and 82 towns, cities and counties approved smoking bans, according to the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, a California-based non-profit considered to have the best data on the issue.
It was a record year, surpassing 2004, when four states and 74 cities and counties began enforcing smoking bans.
All together, 17 states now have no-smoking laws in effect, as do 461 towns, cities and counties elsewhere.
The newest trend has been toward total bans, which are more effective and prevent even mild smoke contact for non-smokers. Some smokers may be inconvenienced, but as we talked about here earlier, cigarette sales hit an all-time low in sales last year and have seen their overall sales dip 21% since 1998.
According to SAMHSA, tobacco use declined between 2002 and 2004. "The rate of tobacco use declined between 2002 and 2004, from 30.4 to 29.2 percent, primarily due to a decline in cigarette use from 26.0 to 24.9 percent. The rate of cigar use remained steady, but smokeless tobacco use dropped from 3.3 to 3.0 percent." This decrease, while not impressive in size, still marks a part of a larger trend against smoking nationwide. If bans, like the one in Luverne, AL, continue to spring up at such a rapid pace we should see this trend continue in a positive direction.
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