Letter: Legislature should gamble on smoke-free air

Thursday, June 29, 2006 | 7:44 a.m.

It would appear that protestations by certain readers of the Sun aside, the surgeon general of the U.S. has spoken, and in doing so has vindicated my stand against smoking in hotel/casinos. Secondhand smoke, no matter how diluted by the provision of a smoke-free area adjacent to a smoking area, is lethal. In other words, it just plain kills. One has to merely wander through a pulmonary ward in a local hospital to realize the truth of this statement, as I often did as a resident physician.

So why hasn't our Legislature promulgated anti-smoking legislation? Does it not stand to reason that, if only a minority of Americans still smoke, the majority must be subjected to the detritus of their lousy habit?

The reason for a lack of legislation could certainly not be pure greed. Studies have shown that business, i.e., restaurants, will do just as well or even better if smoking is banned. Do you really believe that a gambling habit or gaming for recreational purposes is going to be done away with if smoking is banned? That too is a fallacy. People will not only continue to game in clean air, but those of us who gave it up because of the presence of smoke may just give it another go.

I believe the reason is simply that no one in our Legislature, and no one involved at the upper levels of our gaming industry, has even seriously considered the issue. Rather, the time-honored smoking-gaming theory prevails, and no one has had the initiative to say "enough is enough." Perhaps now that the facts have been made public, prudent thinking will overcome ignorance and fear.

It is time for the quiet majority to raise its voice and clear out the smoke of the vocal minority.

Jack L. Kane, Las Vegas