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Unlikely to be overturned smoking ban is here to stay 

“Cough, cough, cough,” Jack says while visiting the new Portsmouth Rowing Club boathouse. “Somebody’s smoking! And indoors, too! I’m going to call the law!” Jane, once an elite rower-turned-chain smoker and club employee snaps back, “This is a private club. Therefore we’re exempt from the 2006 Issue 5 smoking ban!” As Ohio law sits right now, Jane’s argument, although appearing correct to Jane when she read the summary to the November 2006 Issue 5 ballot, is wrong. In that election, Ohio voters passed Issue 5 with 2.2 million voters supporting a smoking ban in all Ohio workplaces, including places like Jane’s private rowing club. . . .

Maverick bar owners are still holding firm and fighting for their rights and against the smoking ban in court and in the media. Champions of the ban and sworn enemies of second-hand smoke will continue to claim success and a healthier America. Unless Ohio courts overturn the ban, which is not likely, but not impossible on some constitutional ground, or smoking ever becomes “cool” again, the smoking ban is here to stay. As the rate of smokers decline in America, the amount of smoke sensitivity to folks like Jack will increase and Ohio’s smoking ban may only get more restrictive. Smokers like Jane will be forced outside into the cold, which the American Cancer Society and SmokeFree Ohio hopes will encourage Jane to quit and take up rowing again.

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