We’ll cheer if either helps Alabamians kick the smoking habit.
The legislative effort is more of the same in Montgomery — lawmakers trying to usher through anti-smoking bills while fellow lawmakers are unwilling to force Alabamians to snuff out their smokes in public places.
This week, a House bill sponsored by state Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Pelham, is stuck in committee. It’s a good bill that would ban smoking indoors anywhere except in private homes. But like a similar bill in the Senate, and a list of anti-smoking bills of recent years, it has a slim chance of passing.
Meanwhile, a group of Jacksonville State University students are doing their part to help Alabamians stop smoking. The students, along with United Way and Family Links, a local nonprofit, have created anti-smoking campaign stickers that will be used in materials given out at area high schools.
McClurkin and the JSU students are examples of people doing what they can to break smoking’s deathly grip on this state. We salute both efforts, and likewise long for the day when smoking no longer endangers so many of our neighbors.
