Smoking

The governor and state legislature agreed yesterday to exempt most of the hospitality industry from Maryland's landmark workplace smoking ban.The compromise allows unrestricted smoking in bars, taverns and private clubs that serve alcohol, such as country clubs and halls for veterans groups.Patrons can light up in restaurants and in most bowling alleys, pool halls, racetracks and indoor sports arenas -- but only if those businesses provide separate, enclosed smoking rooms.And hotels can set aside 40 percent of their rooms for smokers.

Judged on the merits, a proposal to ban smoking in Maryland workplaces would be adopted without delay -- and without dissent. Unfortunately, when it comes to tobacco, political factors can play as big a role in policy decisions as scientific evidence.In Frederick today, the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board is hearing testimony in the second of two public hearings on the smoking ban proposed by William A. Fogle Jr., the state's secretary of licensing and regulation. The board is expected to vote on the proposal in January.

Next Monday, the Anne Arundel County Council is to vote on two anti-smoking bills -- one that would provide protection for non-smokers where they need it most, the other measure a watered-down token.The watered-down version, sponsored by Councilwoman Diane Evans, will be the one the council approves. Council members George Bachman, Carl G. "Dutch" Holland and David G. Boschert have signed on to the bill, giving Mrs. Evans the four votes needed to pass it.As anti-smoking laws go, this one is pretty feeble.

Maryland now has one of the toughest workplace smoking bans in the nation. It's got loopholes, though -- big loopholes. But in the world of politics and lawmaking, there's no such thing as a perfect bill. Compromises must be made. To take an unyielding stand can lead to crushing defeat.Such is the case with the no-smoking bill signed into law Monday night by Gov. Parris N. Glendening. Sure, the governor settled for far less than he initially sought. But had he refused to yield he would have been run over by a fast-charging legislative locomotive -- stoked by the powerful tobacco lobby -- determined to carve out even bigger exemptions in the no-smoking ban.In the end, Mr. Glendening rightly could claim victory.

A final vote that would make Howard County the first Baltimore-area jurisdiction to ban smoking in all public places - including bars and restaurants - is scheduled at tomorrow night's County Council meeting. The bill, sponsored by County Executive James N. Robey and west Columbia Councilman Ken Ulman, is expected to pass and would take effect in June 2007. It would make Howard the fourth Maryland county to ban smoking, joining Montgomery, Prince George's and Talbot counties, as well as Washington.

It's time state legislators in Annapolis face the cold, hard facts. Cigarette smoking is a definite health hazard. Even second-hand smoke can be deadly: It is estimated that it will kill 1,000 Marylanders this year. A crackdown on public smoking is essential.Too many legislators have fallen under the spell of the powerful tobacco industry and their potent lobbyists. These lawmakers like getting smoke blown in their eyes. With unseemly haste, they have jumped on an emotional bandwagon to "liberate" Maryland from a regulatory ban on workplace smoking due to begin March 27. Their aim: Trample efforts to rein-in smoking.

CONSIDERING a career in the hospitality industry, perhaps as a bartender or waitress? Here's how to prepare: Drive out to Baltimore's Harbor Tunnel, wait until you are surrounded by traffic, roll down a window and inhale the noxious fumes. That's a small sample of what you'll be facing in restaurants and bars that permit smoking. A new study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine used Interstate 95 and a tollbooth outside the tunnel as a barometer to judge air quality in some Wilmington, Del., bars, a pool hall and a casino.

This may finally be the year Maryland stops blowing smoke - at least indoors. With a slew of new members and increasing momentum in local councils, leaders of the General Assembly are optimistic that a loophole in state law that allows smoking in certain bars and restaurants may be closed this session. That's a hopeful sign after four years of stalled action. In the meantime, local jurisdictions are filling the vacuum by sensibly moving forward with their own smoking bans, keeping up the pressure for uniform restrictions throughout the state.

"For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health," by Jacob Sullum. The Free Press. 288 pages. $25. Care to smoke? You may very well want to light up after reading Jacob Sullum's "For Your Own Good: The Anti-Smoking Crusade and the Tyranny of Public Health." After all, the author points out, "There's no question that nicotine is a remarkably useful and versatile drug - calming anxiety or boosting concentration, as needed, without impairing mental faculties ..."

ROBERT W. CURRAN is getting some razzing at his favorite Monday night haunt, Jerry's Belvedere on York Road. The Baltimore councilman is pushing legislation that would ban smoking in public places, a proposal that bar, restaurant and tavern owners say would torpedo business. But here's how Mr. Curran sees it: City Health Department statistics show that smoking-related illnesses kill far more Baltimoreans than alcohol, AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murder and suicides combined. In Maryland, 8,000 people die annually from smoking-related illnesses.