A look back at ten years of Smoke Free ND

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – It’s been ten years since North Dakotans took to the polls to ban smoking in public areas.

Travis Gendron says he’s fortunate he will get to combine drinks in a smoke-free setting.

“It’s such an enormous deal for the group. We’re all going to be so much more healthy due to it, we’re all going to be in so much higher moods as a result of we don’t must cope with it,” stated Travis, a bartender at Blarney Stone.

Regardless that Travis is a smoker himself, he says he’s blissful non-smokers aren’t uncovered to secondhand smoke.

“Lots of people don’t make that alternative ever, they usually shouldn’t must cope with the results of different peoples’ selections like that,” stated Travis.

That is precisely what individuals who sponsored the Smoke Free North Dakota poll measure in 2012 had in thoughts.

“There have been fairly just a few research printed in respectable journals that confirmed that secondhand smoke was a direct explanation for cardiovascular occasions like coronary heart assault. So, that was actually our predominant focus on the time,” stated Dr. Eric Johnson, who was on the sponsoring committee in 2012.

Statutory measure 4 handed by a two-to-one vote in 2012, which banned smoking indoors statewide.

“Individuals are not capable of smoke or vape in enclosed public areas and locations of employment,” stated Abby Erickson, North Dakota Well being and Human Companies Group Applications Coordinator for the Tobacco Prevention and Management Program.

Each county within the state voted to approve the poll measure.

Copyright 2022 KFYR. All rights reserved.