Indiana smoking ban: Bid to clear air gets a new push

Publication Date: 2009-01-06

• Author: Erika Slife
• Publication:Chicago Tribune

Campaign for Smokefree Air tries to ignite momentum in holdout state

That's why Sullivan supports the Indiana Campaign for Smokefree Air, which is trying to ignite a movement in one of the states without an outright ban on smoking in the workplace. Illinois went smoke-free on Jan. 1, 2008.

Illinois promotes smoking ban in ad campaign But it could be a difficult feat in the Hoosier State, which has the sixth-highest adult smoking rate in the country. The last time a smoking-ban bill was introduced, the measure did not even make it out of a legislative committee; the chairman cut off testimony of a man whose wife had died of cancer from secondhand smoke. And powerful interest groups representing bars, restaurants and casinos are expected to stand in opposition.

Yet smoke-free proponents remain undeterred.

"I think we do have some movement," said Danielle Patterson, senior advocacy director in Indiana for the American Heart Association. "We have a lot of work to do. [But] we have a little change in the air."