Let Market Forces Choke Out Smoke

The proposed ban on smoking at restaurants in Arkansas puts me at a philosophical crossroads.

I loath smoke and do everything I can to avoid it. I begged my dad to let me take a puff of his cigarette when I was about 4 years old, and he let me. After gagging and choking for a few minutes, I decided I never wanted to smoke again. Since then, I haven’t smoked a thing — obviously the childhood episode proved to be an effective deterrent.

The day smoking on airplanes was banned was glorious. The smoke-free office movement was a thing of beauty. The success of nicotine patches and Zyban in helping people to quit smoking has been tremendous.

But I’m not convinced banning smoke in restaurants is the role of government. It’s the role of the restaurant owner to make a smoking policy based on customer preferences.

We eat at Dixie Cafe regularly because it serves good, down-home food and is a smoke-free environment. The Faded Rose in Little Rock serves one of the best filets mignons you’ll find anywhere and I love it, but we don’t go there very often because it’s too smoky.

Smoking and nonsmoking sections at a restaurant are becoming more standard but are not always effective. It seems to me big restaurants should do more planning with their facilities to increase separation and build in filtering systems.

The bottom line is that we have a choice when visiting restaurants, but we don’t have a choice of airports and public buildings. Market forces will deal with restaurants that refuse to deal with smoke.

I should add that if I were in Dr. Fay Boozman’s shoes as director of the state Department of Health, I would make the same effort he is. Smoking and secondhand smoke are killing people and costing us billions of dollars in health care costs.