Health Happenings
The Year of Breathing Deeply
By Allen Stenger
The promised protesters did not show up, but everyone else had a good time at Breathe Deep Day at Alameda Park one year ago. The event celebrated the Dee Johnson Clean Indoor Air Act going into effect on June 15, 2007, making New Mexico the seventeenth state with a strong indoor smoking law (eleven more states have joined us in the past year). The Associated Press rated the new law fifth in the top ten New Mexico news stories of 2007.
Where's the beefing?
The first year of the law has been uneventful, almost anti-climactic, considering the amount of wailing and lamenting that went on before its passage. New Mexico has benefited from the experience of states that went before us, and our law was very carefully crafted to avoid the problems that other states have had. In particular it defines the exemptions very precisely so there won't be any argument over who's exempt.
The state's Gross Receipts Tax data shows that bar and restaurant sales were up during the three months after the law went into effect, contradicting claims that such laws are bad for business.
The law was passed unanimously in the House and by 27 to 9 in the Senate and signed into law by Governor Richardson at the end of the 2007 legislative session. It prohibits smoking in most indoor public places and work places in New Mexico. Rep. Al Park from Albuquerque introduced the bill. Locally, Rep. Gloria Vaughn was a strong proponent of the law and has been working for many years on tobacco and other health issues.
Everyone seems to be obeying the law. In Otero County there's only been one prosecution. In May Henry Morgan Smith was convicted in Magistrate Court of 15 counts of violating the Clean Indoor Air Act for allowing smoking at the Grubstake Steakhouse in Alamorosa and for not posting No Smoking signs as required by the law.
You might as well live
Second-hand smoke is blamed for about 50,000 deaths per year in the United States (for comparison, automobile accidents kill about 43,000 persons and about 17,000 are murdered). Total deaths from smoking in the US are about 440,000 per year. This law protects non-smokers from tobacco smoke, but it does not protect smokers from themselves.
Those most at danger from second-hand smoke in New Mexico today are children in homes and in cars where there is smoking. Arkansas, Louisiana, and California have passed laws forbidding smoking in cars when children are present. Parents and children should be aware that smoking around children harms their health. Parents should also be aware that children learn by watching their parents, and if you smoke your children will probably smoke too.
It's contagious
Cities and states that have adopted clean indoor air laws have seen their overall smoking rates go down. The national figures are that about 21% of adults smoke, and the rate in Alamogordo is the same. El Paso and Las Cruces have had strong laws for about 10 years, and their smoking rates have dropped to 14.7% and 15.2% respectively.
Do you smoke, and want to quit? The tobacco industry, somewhat against its will, is funding smoking education and cessation programs in most of the states through the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. In Otero County this means you can get free cessation classes, including nicotine replacement therapy, through CHINS. Call them at 434-3011 for information. And remember to breathe deep!
Otero County Community Health Council
700 E. 1st St.
Suite 720
Alamogordo, NM
88310
(575) 443-8100
Fax (575) 437-2949
oterochc@tularosa.net
oteromch@netmdc.com