On Thursday, representatives from the American Heart Association and the Oklahoma State Department of Public Health said they support a potential state bill that would prohibit smoking in restaurants and bars, according to an AP article.

If that bill is passed by the Oklahoma legislature when it reconvenes in 2010, it will represent a change to the current policy, which allows smoking in restaurants and bars that have separate areas for the practice, the article said.

That policy was enacted in 2003 and caused many business owners to spend money making their restaurants and bars compatible with the law while still allowing smoking.

If the policy gets revised, as some from the American Heart Association and the Department of Public Health want, the money those establishment operators spent trying to follow the current law would have been wasted.

While we agree in principle with the concept of no smoking in Oklahoma bars and restaurants, we would not support this piece of legislation because it reaches too far past the current policy, which does a good job of accommodating smokers and nonsmokers alike.

Because of the requirement that smokers must use their tobacco products in a separate room while dining at a restaurant, they are happy because they can still smoke.

And nonsmokers are also happy because they can dine without having to deal with smoke.

It is true that Oklahomans as a whole need to take steps to improve their health when it comes to tobacco. According to statistics from the Department of Health, more than a fourth of Oklahoma adults currently smoke, and almost half have been smokers.

But the restrictive nature of this bill, as well as the economic negatives it could have for restaurant and bar owners, makes it unworthy of passage, especially when Oklahoma already has a quality policy in place.