Employers, apartment owners, tenants and others now have a definitive resource for understanding Ohio’s smoke-free laws and how to enact and enforce their own tobacco-free policies.  The Tobacco Public Policy Center at Capital University Law School has launched a redesigned web site, www.tobaccopolicy.org, with the intent of providing facts, toolkits and answers to the frequently asked tobacco policy questions.
 
“We built this site to help employers seeking to reduce tobacco-related costs and landlords and residents dealing with the problems caused by smoking in apartment buildings,” said Micah Berman, Executive Director, TPPC. “While we don’t give out legal advice for specific cases, we want to relay practical information and policy advice that both employers and property managers can use to reduce the harm caused by tobacco.  For example, many landlords don’t realize that a smoke-free apartment policy is a perfectly legal option that lowers costs, improves property values, and also reduces exposure to secondhand smoke.”

Included in the site are:

o Overviews of Ohio’s smoke-free law, along with information about tobacco-free school environment policies and the role of smoking in child custody cases; (portal at www.tobaccopolicy.org)

o Extensive case studies of Ohio employers that have successfully reduced costs and improved employee wellness by adopting new tobacco worksite policies; (subsite address:  www.tobaccodoesntwork.com)

o Overviews of how smoke-free policies in multi-family housing complexes (apartments) can actually reduce costs and protect residents while maintaining occupancy rates; (subsite address: www.ohiosmokefreehousing.com)

o Toolkits for employers, landlords and tenants alike, toward helping to ease the sometimes difficult transition from a smoking to smoke-free environment.
 
The Tobacco Public Policy Center is a legal resource center for Ohio’s tobacco control community, policymakers, and legal professionals.  It was founded in 2005 with funding from the Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation, and it is a project of Capital University Law School.  It conducts research and provides information on legal and policy issues related to tobacco, but it does not provide individualized legal opinions or legal representation.