Can you smoke? It's 50-50

Maybe it's OK to smoke a cigarette wherever you're reading this right now. Then again, it's just as likely it's not.

The Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights (suggested motto for them: "butt out or die") said that as of the end of last year, 50.2 percent of Americans lived in a place where laws protected them from secondhand smoke in either workplaces or restaurants and bars, or all of those. A minority of states actually had smoking restrictions, but they included the biggest ones -- California and New York. More than 550 local measures had also been approved.

	Jame Hilston, Post-Gazette Click illustration for larger image.

Illinois lawmakers passed a bill this week to become the 19th state (Pennsylvania's among the 31, natch) to prohibit smoking in all indoor public places. The rate of new restrictions is such that before long, no one but some Marlboro Man in a saloon in Cheyenne, Wyo., will be allowed to light up. Oops, scratch that, Cheyenne enacted a citywide ban last August. And it did so without all of the legal tussling here in Allegheny County, which has had some people and bars wondering from one hour to the next whether or not there's a ban.

For now, local readers, feel free to light up. Just don't drop the ashes on the newspaper and walk away -- it could be hazardous to your property.

Now they're going too far

If you're a U.S. smoker feeling on the defensive, things could be worse -- you could be in New Delhi.

Judges in that city of 14 million people made it illegal as of April 9 to smoke while driving a vehicle. It is apparently the first such ban in the world inside smokers' cars. Not even San Franciscans enamored with government regulation have dared invoking such a prohibition yet on that last bastion of American free will: the automobile. The Indian capital's new ban applies equally to mobile phones used by motorists.

"Anything that distracts the attention of a driver is dangerous. The human mind cannot do two things simultaneously," said New Delhi traffic commissioner Qamar Ahmed, who has perhaps never noticed the multi-tasking shown by Pittsburgh drivers opening their car doors to spit. (Granted, we're usually doing this while stopped at a red light, but we'd not be surprised to see someone do it while cruising the Parkway East.)

Take that, filthy bar owners

While Allegheny County has bar-owners suing the government to stop a smoking ban, health officials in Nevada filed suit against a tavern Monday over its "willful disobedience" of a similar new state law. Bilbo's Bar and Grill in Clark County balked at removing ash trays, as required, and is subject to fines for smokers in the bar. The establishment's lawyer said a test case suits it just fine.

Casino floors, by the way, are exempt from the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act. Gambling revenue evidently still counts for something there in Nevada. In New Jersey, the Legislature also enacted a ban exempting casinos, but the city council of Atlantic City has restricted smoking to just 25 percent of gambling floors, after backing off of a total prohibition.

These bans can be costly

Ohioans are finding a tie-in between smoking restrictions and government revenue. Ohio depends on $1 billion a year from its cigarette tax of $1.25 per pack. Fewer cigarettes are being smoked, however, due in part to a state law that took effect Dec. 7 prohibiting smoking in nearly every indoor workplace or public place. The state will lose millions in tax revenue this year.

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"We're of two minds when it comes to cigarettes, aren't we?" Gov. Ted Strickland told the Toledo Blade. "We don't want people to smoke, yet we need the revenue coming from the tax. That's just one of the multiple contradictions that we find in our society and probably within our budget."

Hmmm, sounds like Pennsylvania should feel even more confused about vices then, with its government selling alcohol directly in addition to running a lottery and counting on money from casinos and cigarettes.

Welcome back, Philip Morris!

It's one thing to have Northern and Western states cracking down on smoking, but when such talk becomes hot in the tobacco-rich Southeast, now we're talking about a sea change. Tennessee is one place where tobacco has been a big cash crop, although declining in recent years, and its governor has proposed a workplace ban in addition to tripling taxes on cigarettes.

As suggested by last year's wonderful Hollywood satire, "Thank You for Smoking," the tobacco industry can only be pushed so far. And that's especially true in its back yard. After two years in which it refrained from lobbying against anti-smoking legislation anywhere, so as not to further taint its image, Richmond-based Philip Morris USA has sent its representatives to the Virginia General Assembly this year to discourage strong measures.

Company spokesman David Sutton told The Washington Post that it is "engaging" lawmakers this year to shape "reasonable" regulation of smoking in public places. In other words, it'll fight a statewide, workplace ban there to the death.