Colorado Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Smoking…on Stage
It's stories like this which make me think of an old bit by Denis Leary about the continued legality of smoking in America. In it Leary -- who last I checked still chain smokes with the best of them -- says something akin to "What's the law now? You can only smoke in your apartment, under a blanket, with the lights off? Is that it?!?
The rest of the bit is Leary pretending he's a 20s-style gangster pretending the cops have him surrounded in a warehouse and are about to storm the place before the arrest.
Mind you, I don't smoke, never plan to smoke, and most of my friends don't smoke, but I've always had felt the choice to do so at a place of their choosing (if the owner allowed them to) was theirs. But even this is a whole new level of "Whoa!!!" on the anti-smoking crusade.
In the first decision of its kind, the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday extinguished hopes that theater actors would be exempted from a statewide smoking ban after all but one justice voted to uphold lower-court decisions barring cigarette use in performances.
The move ends a three-year state fight in which a coalition of state and national theater groups argued in multiple courts that the ban infringed on free-speech rights and interfered with their abilities to accurately produce plays.
Six justices found that regardless of whether onstage smoking is a form of expression, the ban on smoking in public places is constitutional because it aims to promote public health rather than stifle free speech.
No other state supreme court has decided a case involving a free-speech opposition to a state smoking ban, according to attorney A. Bruce Jones, who said his theater-company clients have not ruled out seeking a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the topic.
Denver's Curious Theatre Company is one of the handful of local theaters now considering their next move, said artistic director Chip Walton.
"Obviously, we're very disappointed and don't agree with the decision," Walton said. "It doesn't appear that the court recognizes the negative impact this smoking ban has on live theater."
Because the decision by Colorado's top court could impact similar cases elsewhere in the country, the fight has drawn both national attention and support from theatrical and civil-rights groups such as the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, the Dramatists Guild of America and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The courts heard testimony suggesting Colorado's 2006 anti-smoking rules are more stringent than in other states, many of which either exempt artistic performances or allow onstage smoking of non-tobacco cigarettes.
Fake and mechanical cigarettes are exempted, but non-tobacco cigarettes like those used in the filming of the hit AMC show "Mad Men" are not.
