Breathable air is right we all have


Published 10:00am Friday, April 8, 2011

The legal challenge may have stemmed from a smoke-filled Columbus bar room, but the ramifications will impact every Ohioan.

The Ohio Supreme Court decided Wednesday they will hear a case that challenges the constitutionality of the statewide smoking ban.

The ban, which prohibits smoking in most public places, was approved by nearly 60 percent of the voters in 2006, meaning it certainly represented the voice of the people.

The argument of allowing smoking in indoor, public places or allowing smoking at your place of business should go up in flames.

There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that would protect this.

And while it can be argued the government oversteps its bounds when it rules what a private business can and cannot do, this is really no different from many of the other regulations that businesses must follow.

The bottom line is that smoking inside indoor, public places infringes on the rights — for clean air — of others.

This is a chance for the state’s high court to stand up for the freedoms and rights of all Ohioans who wouldn’t be given a choice of “smoking” or “non” if it is once again allowed in public places.

The right to breathe clean air should be a fundamental right, not something for which we have to work.