SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO-AM) Health officials told City Council on Tuesday that an outdoor smoking ban would help encourage a culture of health and well being in South Dakota's largest city.
The expanded ordinance would ban smoking at public parks and golf courses, and outside the Sanford Premier Center and other publicly owned facilities. City Health Director Jill Franken said that enforcement challenges didn't stop Council from approving a texting-while-driving ban in 2012.
"It didn't daunt you in considering passing that policy and I would consider this just as important as a texting ban:" Franken told the informational meeting of Council.
Franken told Council that an average 17 percent of area residents are smokers and this expanded policy could help lower that number.
"For a city like ours that is progressive, I believe we can do better, and should do better and should aim for better," said Franken.
Health officials told Council that nicotine is a drug as addictive as heroin and cocaine. They argued that an outdoor smoking ban would encourage more smokers to quit, keep more kids from trying tobacco, and help keep the city cleaner. Cigarette butts are the nation's number one form of litter.
City Council could consider a first reading of the expanded smoking ordinance November 1.