The Mississippi 2006 statewide smoking law, the Clean Indoor Air Act, prohibits smoking only inside any state or local government building or inside any university or classroom building. Local governments have the authority to regulate smoking more stringently than the Act. Every state in the U.S has instituted some level of ban on public smoking. Some are limited, restricting smokers to a certain space in a building; others are broad, and prohibit smoking nearly everywhere. The bans have been put in place because of growing concern about the health effects of secondhand smoke. Similar bans are being instituted around the world. It was announced in May 2009, that North Carolina lawmakers reached an agreement to ban smoking in bars and restaurants. Governor Beverly Purdue has agreed to make the historic vote legal, in the state which grows more tobacco than any other state in the U.S. (USAToday: N.C smoking ban OK'd (May 13, 2009). Secondhand smoke causes 3,400 lung cancer deaths per year and cause 46,000 heart attacks per year. The annual cost of secondhand smoke has been estimated at $10 billion .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States#.C2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:800px-US_states_smoking_bans-2009-06-26.png

MERIDIAN NO SMOKING ORDINANCE 4365