Feb. 1, 2007

One student still wishes for a smoke free Ohio
by Will Kauff
kauffw@marietta.edu

Smoke Free Ohio.

Wow. What a name.
It evokes an Ohio completely free of cigarette smoke; however, with the ballot that passed, that isn’t the case. It should really be called a little bit less smoke Ohio, but I’ll take what I can get.

The first time I heard of this ballot measure I literally jumped for joy. The idea of a clean air Ohio was and is great. However, the bill didn’t go far enough in my opinion.

I would like the state of Ohio to be truly smoke free. I know that my idea of a Smoke Free Ohio will probably never happen, but it’s nice to dream. So here it is: I dream that there would no smoking anywhere in Ohio, whether or not it’s public or behind closed doors. No smoking at all- literally a smoke free Ohio.

I love this idea. I believe that people who smoke are taking many health risks that I would personally never take. And yet I had to endure it while spending time at a bar. Now it’s reduced so that I don’t have as much exposure, which makes me very happy.

The change is quite easy to see in Marietta, as I noticed a few weeks ago when I went to the Marietta Brewing Company for a Thursday night full of friends and karaoke. I would normally come home and immediately take my clothing off and spray it with febreeze before putting into my laundry hamper. Now I don’t have to take that extra step; they can just go with the other clothes because they don’t have the normal stench of a Thursday night.

It may seem very far stretched to some people, but as a person who grew up with family members who smoked, and still do, it is quite easy to see the horrible effects that it has on your health. As a child I fell victim to many of the different side effects of secondhand smoke, whether it was the reoccurring illnesses or the exercise induced asthma that developed during my high school years. It is because of this that I feel no children should have to be around smoke; it is the same as sending your kid outside without a winter coat or putting them in a germ filled room then wondering why they are sick.
The steps that were taken during the election are great. They reduce the smoke that I have to be exposed to while enjoying a night out on the town, and most importantly reduces the smoke that people who work in the service industry are exposed to. I only hope that sometime in the very near future the idea of a truly Smoke Free Ohio will occur.