Editorial: Smoking, grocery stores don’t mix

Friday, April 25, 2003 | 5:22 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: April 27, 2003

When he goes to a supermarket, state Sen. Randolph Townsend said last week, it is "disgusting" that he has to breathe secondhand smoke from people playing video poker machines. "I don't know how to stop it, so tax it," the exasperated Reno Republican said during a Taxation Committee hearing. But Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, wasn't keen on the idea. He said customers are free to patronize grocery stores that prohibit smoking.

It's obvious that Rhoads hasn't visited Las Vegas lately. Video poker machines -- and the proverbial smoking -- have become endemic to grocery stores and convenience marts. There aren't true choices. Raising taxes isn't the answer, though. Most grocery stores would pay the higher taxes rather than get rid of the profitable machines. This is exactly why the Senate erred earlier this month when it passed an anti-smoking bill that had been watered down. The Judiciary Committee gutted an earlier version that would have given local governments the ability to ban smoking in public places, authority that currently rests with state government. We hope the Assembly amends the Senate bill so that local governments finally have the power to get rid of this nuisance that also poses a danger to the health of nonsmokers.