Proposition 3 — smoking really?

The argument to remove smoking from the workplace and any building that has public access was settled years ago. Smoke and smoking are a public hazard, period. Nicotine is a drug more addictive than heroin. Tobacco smoke is a carcinogen. These are facts not theories or suppositions. The tobacco industry even publishes this information on every pack of cigarettes.

There are false arguments presented by the tobacco industry through our city council members like: so and so should have the right to work where smoking is going on, it is their choice. You’ve probably heard that one over and over how people choose to work in unsafe environments. In this case they must like the idea of getting cancer and other health problems. And these issues apply not just to bar workers but to legal secretaries, hotel maids, delivery folks and even children. Public smoking is not just about bars.

We hear too, not just false, but contrary arguments that non-smoking ordinances are bad for business. Nothing could be further from the truth. Businesses around the world that have chosen or been forced to adopt non-smoking see an increase in business in the long run and not surprisingly a significant decrease in cost.

I suspect David and Michele are beginning to see the benefits at the Caboose Bar in their hotel. I know it has made a difference to me. I actually go there now. I had never gone in there before. I like a lot of others couldn’t. The Elks also recently went non-smoking. I wonder what it would take to convince Mary Lou at the Palmer Bar this is in her interest, too?

Then there is the stupidest argument, the one about freedom. I don’t even subscribe to the idea that a person should have the freedom to kill themselves that seems just un-Christian. But it seems to me no one has the right to harm much less kill other folks. I think these must be the same folks who think they should have the freedom to have lead painted toys for their kids. It is not government interference when actions that hurt the public are not contained by the individual. You aren’t allowed to spray folks with bullets from your M-16...it really is the same concern.

But the issue is not just personal freedom it is public cost. We all pay a price for smoking and an even greater one for public smoking. What right does a business have stealing my money to support their customer’s drug addiction?

And what about my freedom? Here in Palmer the Chamber of Commerce meets at the Moose Lodge. I am denied my membership benefits because the stench of cigarette smoke is so overwhelming I can’t attend the meetings. Our chamber has spoken out against smoking in public accessed buildings. I hope they move out of the Moose.

Our local medical professionals have spoken out against smoking in public accessed buildings. Most of our downtown businesses have spoken out. Our Mayor has spoken out. Polls show more than 70 percent of Palmer folks are for a no smoking ordinance.

Our city council has rejected the idea of an ordinance that’s why it took a petition by local voters to get this on the ballot. I’m not sure why some on the council are so opposed to a sensible ordinance supported by the vast majority of voters and businesses. Usually it is money, maybe not at this level but higher up. Certainly it’s not the lame arguments. After more than 40 years of refutation, nobody could believe those assertions, not even the folks spouting the malarkey.

But even more so this proposition is forward looking. It puts Palmer in the modern world the vast majority of which bans public smoking: even in Albania and Nome of all places! Alaska is only one of 10 states that doesn’t have a statewide ban. You can probably guess the 10, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, you know the forward thinking ones...Alaska. It is time to stop looking back and get on the bandwagon.

So this has become a citizen’s issue. It is in our hands now, the city abrogated. And it requires only one easy thing...go vote!

Gregory Gusse lives in Palmer.