As people prepare for next week’s Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration, they may notice that among the event’s sponsors is 1-800-Quit-Now.
The organization is presenting itself as a resource to help Hoosiers, especially those in the African-American community, kick their smoking habit.
“The smoke-free message at Summer Celebration goes well with our mission to improve the overall health of African-Americans and all Hoosiers,” said Tanya Bell, president and CEO of IBE.
She is among several local leaders and medical professionals who are encouraging African-American smokers to gain inspiration from a new state law that bans smoking in public places.
The state law went into effect on July 1, exactly a month after another smoking ban issued by the City of Indianapolis became law, and made Indiana the 40th state to have a smoking ban. After some modifications, the state legislation was passed with bipartisan support in the Indiana Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Under the law, smoking is prohibited in all indoor public spaces except bars and taverns, casinos, cigar and hookah bars, tobacco shops and cigar manufacturers.
Hoosiers will be allowed to smoke at private clubs, such as American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars halls, but only in designated rooms with separate ventilation systems, and in home-based businesses.
“By making smoking less available in some public places, we are discouraging Hoosiers from smoking altogether,” said Rep. Charlie Brown, a Democrat from Gary who introduced smoking ban legislation in the Indiana House. “It is my hope that this will encourage people to quit and prevent young people from ever taking up the habit.”
Brown added that the new law could also provide savings, since studies show that $2 billion per year is spent on smoking-related illnesses.
Local residents, especially those in the African-American community, want to go a step further than the new law and take their own steps to quit smoking.
“We all know the health disparities that exist in the African-American community,” Bell said. “African-Americans are not only disproportionately impacted by the ill effects of tobacco but also diabetes and hypertension. Tobacco use harms both smokers and non-smokers.”
According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, African-Americans suffer the greatest burden of tobacco-related mortality of any ethnic or racial group in the U.S.
Each year, approximately 45,000 African-Americans die from preventable smoking related diseases and African-American men are at least 50 percent more likely to develop lung cancer, usually caused by smoking, than white men.
Also, more than 25 percent of African-American middle school students and 17 percent of African-American high school students smoke.
“The possibility of so many negative health outcomes increases with tobacco use,” said Deanna Willis, associate professor of family medicine at Indiana University. “There are approximately 9,700 smoking-attributed mortalities in Indiana each year. This new law can be an opportunity to help people change the behaviors that prompt them to smoke, and motivate them to join forces with health care providers, family, friends and the community to create a plan to quit.”
Willis noted that research has shown that 70 percent of smokers want to quit, but have difficulty doing so because nicotine is highly addictive, due to chemical dependency and a behavioral addiction.
“It is important to actually make a plan to quit,” she said. “Visiting a health care provider is an important first step in finding options to help you quit smoking. Support is also needed from family, friends and online support groups.”
Smokers can also learn how to make a quit plan at MyTimeToQuit.com.
Still, not everyone is thrilled about the smoking ban. Opponents say the ban is unconstitutional, and that business owners should have the right to decide whether or not patrons can smoke in their establishments.
Recently, local bars and individual smokers filed a joint lawsuit in federal court to stop the smoking ban, although previous lawsuits in other states have been unsuccessful.
Opponents in the Legislature have said the state has no business telling citizens what to do in their private life with legal products.
“Next we’ll be telling people how many Snickers bars they can buy in a year,” said state Sen. Phil Boots, a Crawfordsville Republican.
Even some smoking ban supporters say the new law doesn’t go far enough. They note, however, that it can be used as inspiration to help smokers quit.
“I’m a smoker, and would like to quit one day soon,” said Indianapolis resident Tamara Jackson. “Until then, I don’t mind stepping outside of places to smoke. It just shows respect for everyone else who doesn’t smoke.”
Other State laws
In addition to recently enacted legislation dealing with topics such as home entry by law enforcement, early kindergarten education and “Right to Work” labor laws, other examples include:
Senate Enrolled Act 18 – Provides that the duty to support a child, which does not include support for educational needs, will cease when the child reaches 19 years of age. Under previous statute, child support payments must be paid until children reach the age of 21.
House Enrolled Act 1033 – Prohibits employers from asking job applicants if they have a criminal record that has been sealed or restricted. The new law also allows persons with a nonviolent class D felony conviction to appeal to the court to have the conviction reduced to class A misdemeanor three years after the sentence is complete. The felony reduction could only occur if the person in question was not a sex or violent offender, had not been convicted of perjury or misconduct, has not been convicted of a new felony and is not subject to any pending criminal charges.
House Enrolled Act 1134 – Prevents school corporations from charging a fee to parents or students for transportation to and from school. However, a fee may be charged for transportation to and from an athletic, social or other school sponsored function.
