Secondhand tobacco smoke and municipal smokefree ordinances: attitudes of restaurant and bar owners and managers. J Drug Edu 2006;36:279–95

Understanding the attitudes of restaurant and bar owners and managers toward a smokefree city ordinance can contribute greatly to the success of a smokefree policy campaign. While local opposition to a smokefree policy always arises from restaurant and bar owners, this study of restaurant and bar owners and managers in two Midwestern cities reveals that over two-thirds (67.1%) support a smokefree restaurant policy, and over 40 % support a policy that would include bars. Moreover, most prefer the local government to require the city to be smokefree rather than choose to go smokefree on their own: only 1 in 5 would even consider going smokefree independently. The study explains that this is primarily due to widespread and unfounded fears of economic loss. Finally, the article recommends that education cam-paigns encouraging individual restaurants to go smokefree would be a far less effective strategy than persuading a municipal government to enact a smokefree ordinance. *Funding for this project was made possible by funds received from the Illinois Tobacco-Fre