A Cabell County judge says secondhand smoke's negative effects outweigh economic losses that bars and gambling parlors claim they'll suffer under the county's new smoking ban.

Circuit Judge Jane Hustead lifted a temporary injunction that had barred the Cabell-Huntington Health Department from enforcing the regulation Thursday.

The regulation expands to bars and gambling parlors a smoking ban imposed on restaurants in 2001.

The injunction was sought by 55 bars and gambling parlors that are suing the health board. They claim the smoking ban is arbitrary and denies them the economically viable use of their property.

Hustead didn't rule on the plaintiffs' request for a declaratory judgment in the case.

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