“The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” Though there is debate as to who first uttered that succinct and well-principled quote, it has become integral to our thinking today on individual rights.
I have a right to drink alcohol, but I do not have the right to drink to the point of impairment and then drive an automobile. My freedom would then have progressed from an action that might ultimately damage my own health to an action that threatens your health and life.
I have a right to own and shoot a gun, but I do not have the right, absent self-defense, to fire that gun in your direction or in locations, such as metropolitan areas, in which there is a reasonable chance that the bullet might hit another human.
I have the right to smoke, but I don’t have the right to damage your health or life in the process. Decades of studies have shown conclusively that my exhaled cigarette smoke will threaten your health and, in response, laws and rules are being adopted around the country to eliminate smoking in public places.
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Specifically, in the 2006 report, “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke,” the Surgeon General concluded that:
- Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.
- Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma. Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in children.
- Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.
- The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
But, in the face of these findings, the powerful tobacco lobby, with 10 registered lobbyists in Oklahoma, has fought and continues to fight against any meaningful limitation on smoking. Beginning in the late 1980s they have successfully blocked local Oklahoma communities from having the freedom to adopt more restrictive ordinances than the statewide rules and have worked to prevent stronger statewide rules from being passed.
However, in 2003, our Legislature courageously enacted law significantly restricting smoking in restaurants and other public places; though, there are still several exceptions, including restaurants with ventilated smoking rooms or outdoor seating, bars, taverns, bingo halls, up to 25 percent of total hotel rooms, and, in general, outdoor public areas.
In 2012, Gov. Mary Fallin admirably issued an executive order prohibiting the use of tobacco on all state-owned and state-leased property and has said she supports allowing the people of Oklahoma to vote on whether to ban smoking in all public places.
More recently, Senate Joint Resolution 24 has been introduced by Sen. A.J. Griffin, R-Guthrie. It would send an amendment of the existing law to a vote of the people. The proposed amendment would eliminate the previously mentioned exceptions and, thereby ban smoking in most indoor and outdoor public areas (though there would remain certain other exceptions that are problematic from a policy standpoint). Unfortunately, that vote would not take place until November, 2016.
Some might argue “Well, if you don’t want to be exposed to secondhand smoke, don’t go to bars and other public areas in which smoking is allowed.” That statement is no more valid than saying, “If you don’t want to be exposed to drunk drivers, don’t drive.”
Public places are, well, public. If you are invited into my home, it is not public, and I have the right to set my own rules (though, in setting those rules, I must consider the welfare of children living in my home). But in a public place, the end of your nose has a right not to be harmed by my actions.
It is time for the Legislature to take a bold step — the right step — by passing legislation to ban immediately tobacco smoking in all public places in the state. If it is unwilling to take that step, then certainly it should send the issue to a vote of the people as soon as possible.
Don Millican is chief financial officer for Kaiser-Francis Oil Co. He is a member of the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board, a 24-member panel formed by the newspaper as a means of connecting with the public. Opinion columns by board members run each week in this space.
