Jump to full article: Fargo (ND) InForum, 2009-07-14
Intro: As North Dakota’s voter-mandated tobacco control committee begins its work, the debate about rights and choices is heating up again.
Let us stress: Mandated by voters last November as they easily approved ballot Measure 3. Let us stress: Mandated by voters who reacted angrily when a cadre of no-nothing legislators attempted – and failed – to gut the measure’s provisions.
Regarding “rights”: No one’s right to smoke has been taken away. . . .
A statewide ban has had no traction in the Legislature, where too many lawmakers have apparently been bought and sold by the tobacco industry. It’s no surprise the committee would consider a ballot measure because the Legislature has been unable to honestly represent the people of the state. No-exceptions ballot measures have passed in many of North Dakota’s major cities. Whenever restrictions have been on the ballot in other states, they have passed handily. Knowing what we know from polls and city votes, it’s a good bet a no-exceptions statewide ban would win approval from North Dakotans. Current exceptions include bars, tobacco shops, certain hotel rooms, truck stop enclosures and private-function rooms.
It’s not about the “nanny state” or taking away rights. Tobacco policy has been evolving for four decades . . .
Regulation has not come from some ivory-tower government bureaucracy. It’s come from voters. Since the men and women who allegedly represent North Dakotans have refused to do the right thing, the new committee should put a comprehensive statewide ban on the ballot and let voters make the call.
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