Essential Estrogen

[Commentary] There's something disingenuous about the cigarette conversations taking place in Des Moines. On one hand, Iowa residents are being told that the statewide ban currently under consideration -- recently passed through the Iowa House of Representatives -- is in direct response to public health concerns. On the other hand, we're learning that the word "ban," much like the word "sex," has several different levels of meaning.

The proposed statewide ban isn't really a ban at all. It will effectively remove tobacco use from most public spaces -- except casinos. The "ban" also allows for cigarettes to be smoked at private clubs such as local veterans' halls. People can still smoke in their cars, in their homes and on private property. In an effort I'm sure was designed to keep the Democrats boosting this"ban" from looking like over-protective insert ethnic or religious modifier here mommies, those in control have decided to deal only with the public health hazard and not the private -- again, except for casinos.

Frankly it's disappointing in a wide variety of ways.

The biggest flaw in all of this is the fact that despite all the evidence lawmakers have been expounding on the dangers of smoking, I can walk into nearly any store in the state and purchase a pack or carton of cigarettes, various cigars and other smokables. Call me crazy, but I always thought a ban was something akin to an excommunication. I even pulled out the dictionary to check:

ban, banned, ban-ning -- noun --

1. to prohibit, especially by official decree
2. forbid the public distribution of
3. under the former system of apartheid, to deprive (a person suspected of illegal activity) of the right of free movement and association with others
4. to curse (archaic)

I guess, as far as Des Moines goes, one out of four shouldn't be considered a failure.

If Iowans are to believe those in Des Moines who expound on the public health hazard of smoking -- how sitting beside someone eating unhealthy food doesn't affect the public, but how sitting beside a lit cigarette is a dangerous situation -- then Iowans must also consider why the Legislature hasn't chosen to take its stance to the logical conclusion. After all, how long would it take the state to truly ban any other product proven to cause adverse health effects and death?

As with most things in politics, we can trace the legislators' failure to act back to the money. The state simply does not believe it can function without the taxes and fees that have been associated with cigarettes or without the taxes and fees associated with organized gambling. Despite the health hazard, despite the medical evidence, despite the strong rhetoric of calling for a "smoking ban," our state lawmakers stand poised over an arterial bleed with a Dora the Explorer Band-Aid. No doubt the cartoon cover will make some smile, but the bandage will do little to stop the flow of blood money from Iowa residents into state coffers.

The logical outcome of the so-called ban is the further -- and finally state-codified -- condemnation of smokers as health risks to themselves and others. It opens to the door to a host of new legal challenges. For instance could parents who smoke be found negligent in providing a safe environment for their children? Could a nonsmoking parent use another parent's habit as evidence in a custody dispute?

Anyone who has been around a smoker, especially one who smokes in confined areas such as homes or automobiles, is aware that at least the scent of the smoke clings to clothing as well as other fabrics. Do the dangers of secondhand smoke cling as well? Could a person following this proposed ban be fired from a job because of the danger their smoke-absorbed clothing holds?

Although I've not been asked, I'd like to offer some advice to our state lawmakers: Piss or get off the pot. If secondhand smoke is truly a health hazard that must be addressed by government, don't nickel-and-dime the issue, leaving the harder implications of your Band-Aid approach to the Iowa judiciary. Don't let your want of blood money from any industry or special-interest group stand in your way of doing what logically must be done to protect Iowa residents. Ban them without exception: No cigarettes in private homes. No cigarettes in casinos. No cigarettes in cars. No cigarettes for sale at any location in the state.

Take what's left of the blood money in the state coffers and use it to provide mental health care for those smokers who self-medicate. Use it to purchase smoking cessation programs for any Iowan who cannot quit without assistance. Until you are ready to sever ties with your own addictions, it's more than a little hypocritical for you to be wagging your finger at Iowa smokers.