2005年NPR美国国家公共电台四月-Study: Mass. Smoking Ban Hasn't Dampened

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The business report starts with the economic effects of a smoking ban. Those effects might not be what you'd expect. Harvard University looked into the effect of a statewide smoking ban in bars and restaurants in Massachusetts. NPR's Chris Arnold reports the ban may have done more good than harm.

Before the smoking ban took effect, bar and restaurant owners predicted dire¹ economic fallout. They warned it would drive people away from pubs and night clubs, and even hurt tourism. But nearly two years later, that hasn't happened. Gregory Connelly is a professor at the Harvard school of public health.

There's been no negative economic impact, so there's no valid² reason for other states not to pass similar laws.

The study which was paid for by an anti-smoking nonprofit group had findings similar to other studies done in the past few years in California and New York. It found that liquor sales across the state showed no change after the ban and employment at bars and restaurants actually rose by 5%. Matt Ross and his family run Doy's Pub in Boston which had been serving drinks and pub food to a roomful of smokers³ since 1820.

We were a bit nervous, you wonder how certain customers are gonna react to it.

Ross says the ban hasn't hurt his business, but it has changed it.

We've seen a slight drop of customers in the bar area. A couple the old timers that used to come in, have a few cigarettes with their drinks, don't come in any more. You just don't see them. But in the same breath, with that, we've seen a lot of younger families coming in. Lot of young kids. And we've kind of adapted to that by taking, you know, the little kid cups, crowns for the kids to play with, and so we're evolving as an old style pub.

Ross says if you're gonna have a smoking ban, it's good to have it statewide so people don't just drive to the next town. He says the ban has hurt some bars that relied on customers who spent much of their day there, drinking and smoking. Harvard's Connelly says he did get a call from one bar owner complaining that the guys who used to come in at 8 am aren't coming in any more. But to Connelly, that's probably not such a bad thing. So far, seven states around the country have passed bans on smoking in the workplace.

Chris Arnold NPR News, Boston.