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Take Heart: Arizona Smoking Ban a Success 

A pair of studies released this week show indoor smoking bans in public buildings lead to a 17-percent decrease in heart attack rates during the first year. After three years, one study showed smoking bans reduced heart attacks by up to 36 percent. Arizona's own voter-approved smoking ban has been in effect just over two years.

Harmony Duport, acting program manager for Smoke-Free Arizona, says compliance today is excellent.

"The first month, which was May of 2007, we received fourteen hundred complaints. But, this past month in August, we received 115. So, the complaint numbers have significantly dropped."

Though no studies linking the smoking ban to a reduction in heart attacks have yet been done in Arizona, Duport expects the state's results to be similar to others. A large number of the complaints received these days involve misunderstandings more than violations, she adds.

"The Smoke-Free Arizona Act does not cover exposure to second-hand smoke outside. So, we get complaints about somebody possibly walking past people smoking on a patio, when in fact smoking outside is not a violation of the Act."

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