The Ban on Smoking
...air laws. After New York City's high-profile bar and restaurant ban was in effect, New York State, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Massachusetts passed full restrictions. Even Lexington, Kentucky, the heart of tobacco country, passed a smoke-free workplace act. More states try to discourage smoking with higher taxes. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia passed increases last year. New Jersey was the first state to sell tobacco for more than $2 a pack. There have been efforts to cut youth access to cigarettes by eliminating vending machines, fining those selling tobacco to minors, and ending free cigarette giveaways. Although states such as California, Connecticut, Maine, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Texas, have cracked down on selling tobacco to youth remain unsuccessful. Tough anti-tobacco laws are most common in the East and on the West Coast, while the South and Midwest falls behind. Smoke-free policies now cover an estimated 70% of the U.S workforce, but the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “440,000 people still die annually from tobacco-related illness, costing $75 billion in medical costs and $82 billion in lost productivity.” California’s 87-cent cigarette tax hasn't risen since 1999. To close budget gaps, California and other states have attacked their shares of $206 billion, a 1998 settlement with tobacco companies. The California Medical Association stated, that those “funds were to pay for tobacco prevention; however, many states cut programs by 50% or more last year.” Philip Morris, the nations leading cigarette manufacturer, took no stand as beach bans swept Southern California on the strength of two arguments: a whiff of secondhand smoke is dangerous, even on breezy days, and cigarette butts are the beaches top polluters. City councils along the coast were confronted by student groups to ban smoking on the beaches. The students volunteered to help clean-up the beach and within hours they gathered tens of thousands of cigarette butts. In Encinitas, for example, signature gathering is underway to put the issue on the ballot. However, in Pismo Beach, north of Santa Barbara, city officials rejected the ban. “Besides littering, butts don't break down in the ocean and are toxic if ingested by fish,” environmentalists say. “Volunteers in annual statewide cleanup days pick up an average of more than 300,000 butts on beaches, one-tenth of what's there,” says Eben Schwartz, the California Coastal Commission's outreach coordinator. Health and environmental officials says, “...