Hack! Hack! Smoking ban begins Friday

Publication Date: 2007-06-14

• Author:JEREMY HUNT AND TOM TREWEEK
• Publication:Rio Rancho Observer, NM

After today, there will be no such thing as a smoky barroom in New Mexico. There will never again be diners lighting up a cigarette after their meal inside a restaurant. The image of a pool shark with a Marlboro hanging from his or her lips will now be relegated to basement poolrooms.

The statewide smoking ban, which goes into effect at midnight tonight, is a paradigm change that will undoubtedly touch every state resident in time by outlawing smoking in almost all enclosed public areas.

At those Rio Rancho businesses where smoke has been part of the ambience, the owners and managers say dwindling numbers of smokers and increased pressure on those who smoke to do so outside have already prepared the city for the ban.