Up in smoke

Hear that? It’s the raspy, repeated, thick-with-phlegm sound from around the corner. Probably a smoker from the smell of things. That’s a wicked cough they’ve got. Wait, it’s someone standing next to a smoker? \nDude, weak.\nThis scenario will no longer play out on IU campuses come October, as the result of the University-wide smoking ban that was one of the last policy decisions Adam Herbert made in office. The decision has been met with major objections as well as happy support as the line is drawn between smokers and non-smokers. The arguments surrounding the policy are passionate, enduring and inherently serve only to substantiate each party’s previously held beliefs on the issue.\nHowever, smokers and those upset by the smoking ban at IU and other measures around the state are at a serious disadvantage that few seem to acknowledge: Despite all their points about constitutionality and infringement on personal rights and complaints about sin taxes, their side is losing – horribly. These criticisms of the ordinances and policies that remove the “rights of smokers” are having little or no effect on decision-making bodies and anti-smoking individuals around the state. \nTake, for example, last week’s ruling by a Superior Court judge in Tippecanoe County against local bar owners who had filed suit claiming that a smoking ban in West Lafayette bars (similar to the one Bloomington put into effect in 2005) was unconstitutional. Judge Thomas Busch claimed that the plaintiffs’ complaints could only be worked out through the legislative process and not through the courts. \nUnfortunately for smoking proponents, the state legislatures and executive branches are very much against them. This week, the price of cigarette taxes in Indiana will increase to 99.5 cents per pack, taking this state to the rank of 24th highest in the nation for cigarette prices. The new tax has been the brunt of many complaints.\nHowever, it’s time for the smokers who oppose such bans to put down the cigarettes and pick up the mug so that they can smell the coffee. All evidence points to heavier anti-smoking legislation in the future, as it should be considering the effects of second-hand smoke on the body that cause approximately 50,000 deaths across the nation annually, according to the American Lung Association. The new Indiana state budget is evidence of such; it will allocate $16.2 million to Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation, an increase of $6.1 million since last year. \nIt is not far off that smoking will be made illegal in many states across the nation and potentially throughout the nation entirely.\nToo often in the debate regarding the constitutionality and other logistical issues of smoking does the opposition to anti-smoking legislation not acknowledge that it cannot win this fight. It is inevitable that the health of the University, state and nation (especially those affected against their will) will be the driving force behind legislation that will make the habit as illegal as marijuana. Perhaps their effort would be better wasted elsewhere.