Health

CHICAGO (CBS) ― At the stroke of midnight, Illinois will ring in its statewide smoking ban.

At midnight, Illinois will become the 23rd state to ban smoking in indoor public places. Ireland has one, too. And health officials couldn't be happier.

At 12:01, all ashtrays must be gone.

"They disappear and the signs go up," said Globe Pub owner Stewart Johnston. "It's going to be hard to police to be perfectly honest, but we can do what we can do and hopefully people won't be too upset."

At Harry Caray's Bar, Tom Leahy and Joe Butler took comfort in puffing their precious Cohiba cigars one last time.

"We're ringing out 20 good years of smoking at Harry Caray's," Leahy said.

"I think an individual place should have a right to say we allow smoking, just don't come in here if you don't want to be around smoke," Butler said.

At Morton's Steakhouse in Rosemont, managers commemorated the end of a smoking era by holding: "The Last Dance: New Year's Eve Cigar Celebration."

"Morton's is known as a cigar bar and restaurant and what better way to say goodbye to the era than have a great nice cigar dinner?" said steakhouse general manager Patrick Hoile.

But the state legislature saw smoking differently and, as of midnight, Harry Caray's Humidor will go the way of the dinosaur -- and lighting up indoors at just about any Illinois public place will be illegal.

Patron Frank Bradley said he's looking forward to the change.

But not everyone is counting the minutes with glee. 

Smoker Chad Bentley said, the new law is kind of hypocrisy.

"You give subsidies to the cigarette companies, you bend over backwards to make sure they're OK in Washington, then you tell us we can't smoke," he said. 

"I think it's almost like taking away our right to be honest with you," said Bartlett resident Andy Dibasilio.

Now smokers won't just be taking a drag outside their non-smoking office buildings, they'll be lighting up outside bars and restaurants, as well.

Health experts are hoping that smokers will find a renewed incentive to quit when the Smoke-Free Illinois Act kicks in. 

"We're quitting tomorrow, "said Elk Grove resident Christine Esposito. "We figure this will help us since we can't smoke at bars, so hopefully this will make us quit."

"We're going to see some benefits," said Joel Africk, president of the Respiratory Health Association. "There's going to be a decrease in asthma attacks and heart attack hospitalizations."

But experts caution that smokers need more than just willpower to break nicotine's hold.

Andrea King, director of the clinical addictions research lab at the University of Chicago, says going cold turkey works for a few, but most need more comprehensive treatment.

That can include counseling, prescription drug treatment, nicotine replacement therapy -- and even acupuncture.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, notes that only about six percent of those who try to quit succeed for more than a month. It often takes multiple tries to stop for good. 

At Mrs. Murphy and Sons Irish Bistro, midnight revelers will receive a smoking ban survival kit, with chewing gum, worry beads, and a list of Web sites to help you kick the habit.

"I think there are people looking forward to midnight to put their cigarettes out, " Beth Murphy said. "We are going to try to start tonight and see what happens."

But that might be difficult with the champagne and other libations flowing free, so the city's giving bars and restaurants an unofficial pass to start enforcing the smoking ban in earnest on Tuesday.

When the new ban does hit, officials are relying on people to report violations. They ask people first to file a complaint with a businesses' management. If that doesn't work, call 311 in the city or the Illinois Health Department at 866-973-4646. Violators will be cited, repeat offenders will be fined.

If you're looking to quit smoking in 2008, smoking cessation kits will be handed out at over a dozen sites across the city starting January 4.

Chicago Second Wind will provide 2,000 free "Quit Kits," until supplies last. The kits contain stop-smoking tips, telephone and website support information, sugar-free candy, and nicotine replacement samples donated by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH).

At the distribution sites, smoking cessation specialists will be on hand to offer assistance to individual smokers.

In addition to distributing Quit Kits, Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago is holding a free seven-week smoking cessation class starting January 24. For more information or to register, call (312) 243-2000 or log onto www.lungchicago.org.

Quit Kit Distribution Sites:

Englewood Neighborhood Health Center
641 West 63rd Street, contact Georgia Caston at 312-747-5778

Uptown Neighborhood Health Center
845 West Wilson, contact Young Cheon-Klessig at 312-744-1938

REACH 2010 - Lawndale Christian Health Center Homan Site
3517 West Arthington, contact Frances Nance at 773-843-3611

Human Resource Development Institute
33 East 114th Street, contact Alice Felice Henry at 773-468-2908

Brown Elephant Resale Shop
5404 North Clark, contact Travis Marshall at 773-549-5943 x28

Affinity Community Services
5650 South Woodlawn, contact Robin Mack at 773-324-0377

Korean American Community Services
4300 North California, contact James Leem at 773-583-5501 x143

Haymarket Center
108 North Sangamon, contact John Morin at 773-756-7321

Sinai Urban Health Institute
1500 South California, contact Joseph West at 773-257-2727

Northwestern Memorial Hospital
251 East Huron, contact Carol Southard at 312-926-2069

Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago
1440 West Washington, contact Stacy Ignoffo at 312-243-2000

Rush University Medical Center
600 South Paulina, contact Rebecca Dowling at 312-942-7075

Bobby E. Wright Comprehensive Behavioral Center, Inc.
9 South Kedzie, contact Ronald Harris at 773-722-7900;

Greater Lawn Public Health Center
4150 West 55th Street, contact Dr. Hattie Wash at 312-747-1020

Center on Halsted
3656 North Halsted, contact Courtney Reid at 773-427-6649 x259

Howard Brown Health Center
4025 North Sheridan, contact Kristin Torres at 773-468-2908. 

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov, Derrick Blakely, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages
 Slideshow: Most Popular Videos Of 2007
 Slideshow: Newsmakers Remembered 
 Slideshow: Drinks Dudes Should NEVER Order
 Slideshow: They Really Said It! Quotes From Celebrities In 2007
 Slideshow: 90s TV Stars Then And Now
 Slideshow: What A Way To Go
 Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities
 Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)