Health advocates: Tobacco, casino industries work in tandem in Nevada

Sunday, March 21, 1999 | 9:19 a.m.

Philip Morris Inc. documents released earlier this year show the importance of the resort industry to tobacco companies in fighting such legislation, said Willie Edwards, state tobacco education officer.

The tobacco industry's image was so tarnished, they needed allies whose reputation wasn't soiled, he said.

The tobacco and casino industries "are business partners and they're joined at the hip with their common lobbyists in Nevada," Edwards said.

"For years we thought there was this kind of relationship but we had no proof," added Elva Yanez of Berkeley, Calif.-based Americans for Non-Smokers Rights.

The revelation comes as legislators prepare to debate a bill to allow local governments to impose stricter smoking regulations than the state.

A hearing on Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman's bill will begin at 8 a.m. Monday before the Assembly Judiciary Committee. A similar bill died in the 1997 Legislature.

Nevada is one of 13 states with so-called preemptive laws that prohibit local governments from enacting anti-smoking laws that go beyond those imposed by the state.

Attempts to tie the tobacco industry with Nevada's casino industry only muddies the real issue of moving tobacco control from the state to the local level, said Harvey Whittemore, a lobbyist for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

"They're trying to buttress their position by trying to bring up those issues," said Whittemore, who's also a lobbyist for casino owners' Nevada Resort Association.

The Reno lawyer said he'll fight the bill because he thinks it would create a patchwork of smoking laws in the state and confuse tourists.

"Can you imagine if they bring in a customer and someone says in Reno you can't smoke cigars, but in Sparks you can?" he said. "We think these types of policy issues should be left at the state level."

But Freeman said local governments deserve the right to make their own smoking laws.

Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin agreed: "A community ought to be able to do what they want."

No local government would ban smoking in casinos, Freeman added.

Under current state law, smoking is banned in public buildings, buses, lobbies, doctors' offices, grocery stores and daycare centers. Restaurants with more than 50 seats must have non-smoking sections.