Alaska smoking rates drop
Jump to full article: Fairbanks (AK) Daily News-Miner, 2009-04-17
Intro: Anti-tobacco crusaders from across the state have gathered in Fairbanks this week to talk about their strategies and successes.
While some of the strategies remain controversial in some quarters, it’s hard to argue that declining tobacco use is anything but a success.
The growing emergence of smoke-free restaurants is one measure of that decline. Eighty percent of restaurants in Fairbanks are smoke-free. Even some bars have stopped allowing customers to smoke.
Such progress has been made without implementing strict government bans. Choice is respected, but Fairbanksans and all Alaskans are making better choices for their health.
During the past decade, smoking by adults has dropped by 20 percent, and smoking by youths has been cut in half.
Part of the credit for this must go to former state Sen. Bert Sharp, R-Fairbanks, who was presented with the “Policy Pioneer” award at the Third Annual Tobacco Summit here Wednesday evening. . . .
he deserves the recognition bestowed upon him. The benefits are clear. The costs are more nebulous and so have been discounted in the policy shift in favor of taxation.
Such debates aside, we should all applaud the simple decline in tobacco usage. The plant is a drain on the health of anyone who becomes hooked on it. The fewer people who end up in that position, the better.
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