Smoke-free air is better for Alaska

Like most businesses, the Frontiersman has its share of smokers in the office, and quite a few former smokers. We have a designated spot outside for them to partake. It’s sometimes busier than others.

We don’t begrudge anyone the freedom to smoke. We do, however, believe it is the right thing to do to ask our employees to take their smoke outside.

In the past, it was common for smoking to be allowed in all sorts of workplaces and public spaces where we would never dream of lighting up now. We’ve moved on as a society to recognize the dangers of smoking. So we no longer condone the use of tobacco products in most public spaces, though some bars and restaurants still allow the practice.

Smoke-free air is better for all of us — smokers, second-hand smokers, business-owners and workers. It also reduces deaths and health insurance costs related to smoking.

These are just some of the reasons we support Senate Bill 209, which would make all workplaces in Alaska smoke-free.

A similar local measure passed in Palmer by a strong margin in 2012 and went into effect the following year. People who once feared the smoking restriction would cause the demise of their businesses — bars being, generally, the only workplaces anymore that allow smoking — have seen their fears proven unfounded.

Aside from the inconvenience to smokers of taking their smoke outside in Alaska’s often-inhospitable weather, we see no downside to this legislative change. The upsides are healthier patrons and employees, fewer deaths from smoking and reductions in associated health-care costs.

Like its Palmer counterpart, this bill contains language classifying electronic cigarettes alongside their crushed-plant-matter cousins as pleasures that must be partaken of outdoors. While this might be controversial for some, we see it as forward-thinking. There is simply not enough data to be certain e-cigarette vapors are harmless to either first-hand or second-hand users.

Overall, we find people who smoke to be a courtesy group who generally take non-smokers into account before lighting up. Smokers are used to looking for ashtrays, used to checking whether that business allows smoking indoors. We don’t think even this group will find the proposed rule change unreasonable.

Primarily, this bill seems to be about formalizing the sort of everyday consideration smokers extend to non-smokers daily.

Count us among the more than 400 Alaska businesses and organizations that support this bill — because smoke-free air is better for Alaska.