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What's Wrong With Wisconsin?

Jessica Larscheid of Baldwin, WI wrote a letter to the Hudson Star-Observer asking why Wisconsin has fallen behind Minnesota in going smoke-free. The letter appears below. 

Living in St. Croix County I often have reason to cross from Wisconsin into Minnesota to see friends, get groceries or go out. This “pilgrimage” from one state to the next has always been part of my life, but what’s new is the intense amount of ribbing from my Minnesota friends about Wisconsin’s reluctance to go smoke free.

“What’s wrong with Wisconsin?” asks one friend. “Why not just get it done and over with,” chimes in another. “It’s just Wisconsin,” quips the third rolling her eyes and adding, “They’re always behind Minnesota for everything.”

At this point I tried to step in and defend my state but how? They were right.

What is the problem with Wisconsin? Why is Minnesota enjoying smoke-free air while lawmakers in Madison keep going back and forth over the topic? Why did it only take Minnesota four months to go smoke free and back in Madison they’re talking nearly four years?

The answer, I discovered, is clouded. Some of it has to do with bar owners scared they’ll lose business. Some of it has to do with lawmakers scared of special interests and some of it has to do with a legislative disconnect between what the people of our state want and whom our lawmakers are listening to. While I understand bar owners’ business concerns I direct them across the river as proof smoke-free laws work. Bars in Minnesota are thriving and people like my friends and I often head to Minnesota instead of Wisconsin Friday nights simply because we don’t have to endure the effects of cigarette smoke.

As for lawmakers, they need to quit thinking of workplace smoking as a “right” and realize the only right they should be protecting is the right to good public health. No one should have to breathe in tobacco poison just to get a paycheck. It’s not the legislature’s job to cushion every possible blow for bars.

Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of us — more than 64 percent — who say they support a smoke-free state law, need to speak up and let our lawmakers know we put them in office to look after our interests — it’s time they stand up and take action. That way the next time my friends and I get together they can cross into Wisconsin and the conversation can be about what’s right with Wisconsin instead of what’s wrong.

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wisconsin minnesota smoke-free