When cities like Bismarck and the state of North Dakota were going through discussions of ordinances to prohibit smoking in restaurants and bars, some in the hospitality community said it would cause a loss of business.
Tobacco control advocates countered that national statistics show just the opposite.
And now, Bismarck’s Tobacco Free Coalition has data to support its position.
"There's really no evidence that growth rates in the food and beverage industry were significantly impacted by the policy implementations or announcement effects,” said researcher Duane Pool. He looked at tax statistics for Bismarck-Mandan restaurants and bars from 2004 through 2012. That covered the time when local ordinances were passed until the statewide smoking ban passed in 2012.
“In fact, what we saw was an overall growth in the market which was relatively steady at 8 percent or greater," said Pool. "That was both before and after any announcement or implementation of any specific smoke free policy pact.”
Pool says most of the national research shows the same kind of results. His conclusion:
“Public policy did the right thing from a health perspective," said Pool. "And it had very little impact on the market itself.”
Bismarck first passed a local ordinance to ban smoking in restaurants. It subsequently adopted a “no smoking “ policy for bars before the statewide vote in 2012.
