The Associated Press | Posted: Sunday, August 24, 2008 12:00 am
GILLETTE - A coalition of health care workers and others will make another attempt at persuading the state Legislature to institute some type of statewide smoking ban.
Smokefree Wyoming has twice presented a bill to ban smoking in public venues such as bars, restaurants and sporting arenas across the state. Each time, the coalition has cited the dangers of secondhand smoke inhalation, including studies that show prolonged exposure to airborne cigarette smoke can be just as dangerous as firsthand contact.
Both times, the initiative hasn't gotten far, either dying in legislative committee or failing an introductory vote on the House floor.
Next month, the Legislature's Labor, Health and Social Services Committee is scheduled to discuss another smoking ban, a move that Smokefree Wyoming officials hope will result in a committee sponsored bill.
Smokefree Wyoming leaders Loretta Wolf of the American Cancer Society and Jan Drury of the American Heart Association are expressing confidence that this year the group will make some progress in the Legislature.
They are buoyed by a recent survey suggesting that Wyoming residents could be ready to see a change in smoking laws.
The issue of a statewide smoking ban raises interesting arguments for Wyoming lawmakers.
Some are uncomfortable with the Legislature imposing a ban, believing such bans should be done by the local governments.
Others say smoking is an issue of personal choice that shouldn't be legislated.
But Smokefree Wyoming supporters note that smoking affects people other than the smoker through secondhand smoke.
Wolf said once a person's choices begin to harm someone else, those freedoms should end.
"People's greatest right is to have their health protected," she said.