Smoking cigarettes and tobacco use in other forms unfortunately has been a widely prevalent habit in the United States. It has caused terrible ravages on health, shortening lives as a result of cancer, emphysema and other ills. But fortunately, the use of tobacco is definitely declining.
It has been said that Europe was introduced to tobacco when early settlers in North America found American Indians smoking tobacco in pipes (sometimes “peace pipes”) and took what came to be a big money product and the bad habit back to England.
Tobacco became a huge money crop in the American South. North Carolina became the nation’s tobacco leader, with Kentucky and Tennessee also big tobacco producers. Tobacco manufacturers became huge supporters of North Carolina’s Duke and Wake Forest universities.
So it is noteworthy that at the beginning of 2010, North Carolina adopted a law that bans smoking in restaurants, bars and similar “enclosed” public places. That recognizes the dangers not only from inhaling by “first-hand” smokers, but also from “second-hand smoke” encountered by others.
The anti-smoking legislation was led by state Rep. Hugh Holliman, who has survived lung cancer and whose sister died of lung cancer. He explained: “This law doesn’t tell anybody they shouldn’t smoke. It’s saying nonsmokers should have the same right to breathe clean air.”
North Carolina produces nearly half of the tobacco grown in the United States. But at last count, North Carolina became the 29th state to ban smoking in restaurants and the 24th to ban smoking in bars, according to the American Lung Association.
Many smokers have found it hard to quit, but have succeeded in doing so. It’s easier not to start. Fortunately, in recent years, widespread knowledge of the serious health hazards from tobacco use has resulted in smoking becoming “less fashionable.”
And that should be a big gain for good health.