If legislature won’t help protect Kentuckians from the health threat of tobacco, local governments should, Herald-Leader says

Since the Kentucky General Assembly “adjourned without tackling the addiction that kills the most Kentuckians, tobacco,” local communities need to take up the challenge, the Lexington Herald-Leader said in an editorial Sunday.

To drive home the primary role that tobacco plays in Kentucky’s poor health, the newspaper ran a map of the most recent County Health Rankings, showing that “the places where smoking rates are highest have the worst health outcomes.”

The Democrat-controlled state House passed a statewide ban on smoking in workplaces last year, but the bill got nowhere in the Republican-controlled Senate, and with new Republican Gov. Matt Bevin opposed to it and all House seats on the ballot this year, the bill didn’t get a vote in the House.

Bevin has said smoking bans should be a local decision. The editorial says, “One of the cheapest, most effective ways to do that (since the
legislature won’t) would be to join the places across Kentucky that have
enacted local smoke-free laws.” About one-third of Kentucky’s population lives in jurisdictions with comprehensive smoking bans.