Jackson Free Press

Jackson has taken a stand against smoking in public places, joining capital cities across the country that have banned indoor smoking from businesses, restaurants and bars. Health experts have long identified smoking as a serious health issue, and more recently, have found that inhaling second-hand smoke can be just as deadly as lighting up your own cigarette or cigar. Mississippi is now among only 11 states that have not banned indoor smoking statewide.

We applauded the Jackson City Council in July 2008 for finally, after much wrangling, passing a city ordinance banning smoking from the city's restaurants and most of its bars, in addition to other public places such as stadiums. Neighboring Ridgeland adopted a ban almost a year earlier, and other cities including Madison and Brandon are considering putting bans into place. Such bans encourage good health habits in addition to tourism from outside Mississippi.

The bad news about Jackson's ban is twofold:

First, the city ordinance is unnecessarily confusing, and the city has not communicated well with businesses to aid understanding of the ban. Instead of banning smoking outright in public places, the ordinance lists numerous exceptions to allow smoking in some locations. Stand-alone bars (bars that only sell beverages with less than 5 percent alcohol content), for example, are exempt, along with private clubs and tobacco shops. A purveyor of alcohol would have to understand how Jackson's ban fits together with Mississippi ABC laws to know whether his or her business is covered under the ban.

As any judge will tell you, though, ignorance of the law is not an excuse to break it. The ordinance is decipherable, barely, and businesses should make the effort to comply with the city ordinance and with the state's liquor laws.

Second, Jackson is not enforcing the ban, creating an unlevel playing field: Businesses that comply with the ban are potentially losing income to businesses that are not complying. (Whether that non-compliance is intentional or due to ignorance on the part of business owners is beyond the scope of this editorial.) A quick tour on any Saturday night to a selection of Jackson's night spots is enough to demonstrate the unequal or nonexistent enforcement.

The Mississippi Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control seems to be equally lax in enforcing its regulations. According to state law, any establishment that serves liquor—any alcoholic beverage with 5 percent or more alcohol content—must make a minimum of 25 percent of its revenues with food sales. Again, a quick tour of the city's liquor-licensed establishments will reveal food sales considerably under the legal limit in some spots.

It's time to put an end to confusing ordinances and lax enforcement. We urge the Jackson City Council to adopt a less cumbersome smoking ban so that businesses—and law enforcement—are clear about how to comply with the city's smoking ban, and level the playing field for all.