Ohio smoking ban update

It’s been a eventful three weeks for Ohio’s “Smoke Free Workplace Act.” Another update seems within reason.

Hamilton County’s common pleas court denied a motion for an injunction barring the State of Ohio’s implementing its new “Smoke Free Workplace Act” on May 2,2007; Judge Fred Nelson there being quoted by the media as commenting that “smoking is not a right.” That case is set for trial this November. (Article)

Last week, Franklin County Common Pleas Court said that private clubs can’t allow smoking despite language in the statewide ban that seems to exempt them, Judge David E. Cain saying that the state overstepped its authority in writing rules that attempted to resolve contradictory language in the Act which both allowed smoking in private clubs and restricted it in most workplaces. (Article)

On May 16th. the Toledo Blade was reporting that more than 100 activists were protesting the State’s plan -- which has already been ratified by the House -- to sell off 40 years of settlement payments that Ohio gets from major tobacco companies like Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds-- $12, 000, 000, 000—to investors for an up-front lump sum of $5 billion without earmarking anything for continued smoking prevention or cessation programs. (Article)