Experts say bans might curb smoking but won't snuff out habit

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Even in pouring rain and biting cold, Lisa McQuillen walks halfway around the building for a cigarette during breaks from her register at a smoke-free Bloomington grocery store.

McQuillen says she'll be stepping away from a beer and friends as well next year under new laws that will add Bloomington and neighboring Normal to a growing wave of Illinois cities with bans on smoking in bars and restaurants.

"With the price of cigarettes and now this hassle, I probably should think about quitting, but I won't. Not right now, anyway," says McQuillen, 41, of Normal.

But some smokers might, according to supporters of bans now on the books in 19 cities from Springfield to Chicago and awaiting votes in more than 40 other towns.

Though aimed at clearing the air to protect nonsmokers, supporters say the bans also could nudge smokers to kick the habit as once-hazy taverns and eateries join workplaces and other public buildings as smoke-free zones.

"I think if you make it less convenient for people, if they are finding themselves next to the Dumpster or at the back door looking in, they may ask themselves, 'What am I doing?"' said Adam Nielsen, a councilman who voted for a ban in Normal that takes effect Jan. 1 along with Bloomington's.

Sociologists and health experts differ on how much the bans might dent Illinois smoking rates, which are slightly above the national average at about 22 percent of the state's adult population. But most agree it's unlikely smoking will ever be snuffed out completely.

"People like to smoke. ... You can't ban things successfully, at least things that people enjoy," says Darren Sherkat, head of the sociology department at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Still, many health and behavior experts predict the bans will help carve at least a little deeper into smoking rates that have slid from 59.9 percent of the adult population nationally in 1955 -- before smoking's health risks were confirmed -- to 20.9 percent in 2004.

With virtually nowhere to light up indoors except home, experts say, smokers will find themselves going longer between puffs -- time that ultimately could convince some that they can give up tobacco entirely.

Bloomington Mayor Steve Stockton, a retired State Farm executive, says the insurer received thank-yous from employees who said a workplace ban imposed in the early 1990s was their impetus to quit.

As more adults quit smoking, fewer teens will start, according to health officials, who say lack of exposure is the best way to ensure kids don't experiment, then wind up hooked.

Finally, sociologists and health experts say the bans eventually could help redefine social norms, attaching a negative stigma that would make smoking a behavior to avoid, not mimic.

"We could reach a point where it's no longer cool to be smoking. First of all, you're not going to be very comfortable yourself if it's below zero. But on top of that people who see you out there are going to look at you in a different way," said Thomas O'Rourke, a University of Illinois community health professor.

Mark Peysakhovich, senior director of advocacy for the American Heart Association's regional office in Chicago, says it won't be easy to change public perception of a habit glamorized in movies, television shows and tobacco company marketing.

"We're certainly not against any effort to make smoking less cool. But we think we still have a fairly long way to go to reverse a very large pro-smoking bias that has been around for decades and decades," Peysakhovich said.

Some experts predict indoor smoking bans could shave Illinois smoking rates by a few percentage points or even cut them in half, though the declines could take years.

Studies show bans have helped curb smoking across the county, where 14 states, the District of Columbia and hundreds of cities have comprehensive indoor smoking bans that include bars and restaurants.

According to one study, smoking in New York City plunged by 11 percent from 2002 to 2003, when an indoor smoking ban was accompanied by a cigarette tax increase and a quit-smoking initiative that offered free nicotine replacement therapy.

Nick Maroules, head of the sociology department at Illinois State University, says Illinois likely won't see such dramatic results.

"My sense is that people who are committed smokers will find ways to smoke around the ban, if you will. ... If it were that simple, a lot of people would have quit smoking already," Maroules said.

Mary Jo Guerin, who tends bar at Bloomington's Coppertop Lounge, agrees.

"You don't push people to quit smoking. They're only going to do it if they want to do it. It's like drinking," said Guerin, 38, of Downs.

The heart association's Peysakhovich says he understands, after kicking his own decade-long, three-pack-a-day habit 11 years ago. But he hopes health concerns and bans ultimately persuade other smokers to follow suit.

"If smoking itself is the final victim of tobacco use, I think we would all celebrate," Peysakhovich said.