Welcome to a Smoke-Free Arizona

Posted by Donna Dailey May 1, 2007

Gone are the days when you can have a Marlboro with your margarita in an Arizona bar. From today, the Smoke-Free Arizona Act comes into effect. If you want to light up, you'll have to be at least 20 feet from the front door of any public place.

Last November, nearly 55% of Arizona voters approved the law, which places a 100% statewide smoking ban on workplaces, restaurants and bars. The cities of Tempe, Guadalupe, Flagstaff, Tucson, Mesa and Sedona have had smoking bans to varying degrees since 2002.

The smoke-free movement, which has been gathering force for over a decade, has grown particularly strong in the past couple of years, not only in the USA but in such die-hard (pardon the pun) smoking countries as Ireland, Scotland and Spain. Pubs in England and Wales will lose their smoky haze on July 1, and even Parisians are resigned to a ban in French restaurants, cafes and nightclubs from January 2008. According to opinion polls, 70% in that nation of smokers support the prohibition. Mon Dieu!

Here in the Southwest, Arizona is in good company. California passed one of the first anti-smoking laws in 1994, which went into effect the following year. It had a surprising effect on the bar and restaurant business. To read about it, click here.

It also proved so popular that Californians were soon clamoring to ban smoking outdoors as well. Calabasas, in Los Angeles, was the first US city to ban smoking in outdoor public areas, including streets and parks.

Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah also have smoking bans in place, and New Mexico's new smoke-free laws go into effect on June 15.

The situation varies from state to state, and sometimes from city to city. To find out more about the smoke-free laws in the Southwest states and Hawaii, click here.