Weird smoking laws...

[jesstene]

Well I just had a conversation with one of our customers for about an hour and she informed me that in her hometown they are taking smoking laws a step further!

It seems that if you are smoking outside within certain areas you can get a ticket for $100!! This is crazy and gives me just more reason to be grateful for the e-cigs! Even on private property they are allowed to ticket, that the police force has a division similar to that of parking enforcement that only handling these violations.

Anyways if you are from somewhere that has weird regulations about smoking or other odd laws that are enforced...SHARE your story here!!

Just some interesting information to share with all of you.

Thanks

Millie

 

[AJMoore]

Where does she live??????????????

 

[JimStanmore]

Columbia, MD did that a few years ago. Your couldn't smoke outside. It was a private, incorporated city.

 

[jesstene]

Where does she live??????????????

Somewhere in Cali is all that I know. It is just surprising that the ticket would be $100.

I understand not smoking indoors but giving tickets to people outdoors seems a bit much at times.

 

[jesstene]

Columbia, MD did that a few years ago. Your couldn't smoke outside. It was a private, incorporated city.

I know that in Utah and many places there is no smoking indoors, but in Wyoming many bars still allow indoor smoking and I have to say I fully support not smoking indoors, since quitting it really helps and things are just so much cleaner.

 

[JimStanmore]

Here are some links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/national/19smoke.html

Outdoor Smoking Bans

The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary: IN MY VIEW: Burbank Smoking Ordinance Goes Too Far and Gives Anti-Smoking Movement a Bad Name

 

[JollyRogers]

Hawaii has an interesting smoking law. Basically 20 ft within any public building. The antis at their best. Second hand smoke is no joke.

http://hawaii.gov/health/healthy-lifestyles/tobacco/resources/documents/SmokeFreeLawGenPub.pdf

 

[5cardstud]

They have been toying with the idea of no smoking in the city and county parks here where I live. It's the do-gooders, by golly they just don't like people smoking. They've outlawed them everywhere and priced everybody out of them just about. The do-gooders aren't happy in they're not meddling in someones business.

 

[spaky]

In Illinois you can't smoke withing 15 feet of a building entrance. In fact all the fast food drive thru windows have stickers stating this. I think they're trying to say that you can't smoke in your car while you wait for your food.

 

[jesstene]

They have been toying with the idea of no smoking in the city and county parks here where I live. It's the do-gooders, by golly they just don't like people smoking. They've outlawed them everywhere and priced everybody out of them just about. The do-gooders aren't happy in they're not meddling in someones business.

I will agree that there is a certain type of people that insist on changing things for the rest of us all the time. I do agree that there should be some regulation, as in the no smoking within 20 ft thing, that makes sense but no smoking in an open park? That might be a bit much, as it is outdoors in an open area.

Well now they are wanting to start changing things with the e-cigs, you are correct they are never happy unless they are changing something for some reason.

Millie

 

[jesstene]

Here are some links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/national/19smoke.html

Outdoor Smoking Bans

The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary: IN MY VIEW: Burbank Smoking Ordinance Goes Too Far and Gives Anti-Smoking Movement a Bad Name

Thank you for posting these links, very interesting information!
I quoted it so that we can carry the links through and they won't get lost right away.

Thank you

Millie

 

[BluLtspcl]

Well I just had a conversation with one of our customers for about an hour and she informed me that in her hometown they are taking smoking laws a step further!

It seems that if you are smoking outside within certain areas you can get a ticket for $100!!"

Hi, Millie!
I had to laugh - that was OUR conversation! True story. A fellow who works for a related company where I do some consulting got "ticketed" smoking in a lower level parking garage at a privately owned commercial office building -$100. Ouch. Google, "Glendale, CA Anti-smoking law." I read through the law, felt I was going in circles: Can't smoke within 20 feet of a building, but CAN smoke on the sidewalk or street, but the sidewalk runs within 20 feet of buildings (but walking in the street will net you a ticket, too.) I think all the bases are covered and that's just a few points in the ordinance. So, bring your PC's if you plan a trip to Hollywood. Otherwise, you can attempt to smoke in the street. (Were they thinking you would then get run over by tourists? And that would be a "smoking death", right?)
It's all about the money (tickets are real money makers). The newest oridance passed requires "architectural approval" from the city for a home window replacement - for a fee, of course. (I still love Glendale, though.)

Meanwhile, Thanks for my order! Love my new PCC for my M4. It arrived today, very classy!

 

[Slo Ryd]

When I lived in California there was a law that you could only smoke inside your own house with all doors and windows closed. If you smoked outside, even in your own lawn, in your car, even with your windows rolled up, you got a ticket for it. It seems a bit harsh but I stand behind that law, smoking is bad for the environment and everyone in it.

 

[BluLtspcl]

Wow, Tony. I don't know what city that is - Glendale is not that harsh. Given there is so much pressure not to smoke, gotta wonder why there is so much pressure to ban vaping (New York!). That's a hot topic, and off topic for this thread.

D~

 

[Briggs]

The laws seem to be getting harsher and harsher. It seems like they wont stop till no one can smoke outside of their basement closet with out being judged and fined!

Cheers,
Clay

 

[Stephra]

In Illinois you can't smoke withing 15 feet of a building entrance. In fact all the fast food drive thru windows have stickers stating this. I think they're trying to say that you can't smoke in your car while you wait for your food.

Um, yeah right.

A window is not an entrance for anyone but a burglar.

I was at a festival this past weekend (outdoor, private venue). For context, I've been vaping for three months now. I had some cigarette cravings at the beginning, but honestly haven't had an issue with them since. Until this past weekend.

I kept seeing people smoking everywhere. I had to keep putting that stupid thought out of my head for days. And it's not really because I WANT a cigarette. It's because I kept getting that visual reminder everywhere I turned! It dawned on me that cigarettes have largely been written out of the public narrative!

You just don't SEE smoking much anymore! All of these laws have whitewashed the world. Smokers huddle in small clutches, out in the margins, away from polite society. Smoking in movies has all but disappeared - and when it's there, it's a device used to indicate debauchery, sleaze, or evil. I never noticed it until I went somewhere where there are no limiting mechanisms in place. Without rules, PEOLE SMOKE - IN QUANTITY.

That's been the real aim of these outdoor use laws. They don't protect air quality or reduce litter. They remove smoking from our radar. That's the real aim.

It's working remarkably well.

 

[Briggs]

Hmmm I didn't look at it that way Stephra but your right. I never see smoking anywhere unless I am at a bar and then only on the patio surrounded by a fence away from prying eyes.

The "clean air act" Give me a break, the air quality outside any major city is ridiculous, just a nice name to persecute smokers more.

Clay

 

[Stephra]

Hmmm I didn't look at it that way Stephra but your right. I never see smoking anywhere unless I am at a bar and then only on the patio surrounded by a fence away from prying eyes.

The "clean air act" Give me a break, the air quality outside any major city is ridiculous, just a nice name to persecute smokers more.

Clay

Persecute? They are making smoking damn near invisible! It's a mind game, really. Heaven forbid a child should see a perfectly respectable citizen smoking. Nah... let's make that guy go outside, 100 feet away from the building in the dead of winter. It makes a perfect mental image of an addict doing whatever is necessary to get their fix. I'm surprised that they haven't started demanding that cigarettes come packaged inside of dirty needles to complete the picture.

What's next? Smoking helmets? "Sure you can smoke, but you have to wear this special bubble that encases your head completely, and has a big flashing sign that says PARIAH."

The really bad thing is that the subliminal message has sunk in so deep that people sputter and wheeze over vapor. Are we really this sensitive? When I was a kid, the malls had ashtrays at every bench, and you'd find butts on the floor at the grocery store, but it was rare to hear people complain. You'd occasionally see people who had a legitimate sensitivity, but it wasn't this big hypochonriac whining that I see now. When smoking was everywhere, people were chill with it. Now you hardly see smoking anywhere, and people fall over themselves coughing and gagging whenever they come within a hundred feet of a smoker.

I saw on another thread (about THIRD hand smoke) that a woman smoked a cigarette outdoors and her neighbor complained that a blanket she had outside on a railing was "contaminated" a whole day later. This is what all these smoking rules are intended to to accomplish. Turn smokers into bad guys, turn non-smokers into hypochondriacs, and turn the two groups loose on each other. And let's face it, the smokers don't have a leg (lung?) to stand on in that fight.

I wish just once in this country we could do things based on reason, science, fact. Instead we create policy on public opinion, marketing, and hyperbole. When did logic and thinking become such a rare commodity?

 

[Briggs]

Persecute? They are making smoking damn near invisible! It's a mind game, really. Heaven forbid a child should see a perfectly respectable citizen smoking. Nah... let's make that guy go outside, 100 feet away from the building in the dead of winter. It makes a perfect mental image of an addict doing whatever is necessary to get their fix. I'm surprised that they haven't started demanding that cigarettes come packaged inside of dirty needles to complete the picture.

What's next? Smoking helmets? "Sure you can smoke, but you have to wear this special bubble that encases your head completely, and has a big flashing sign that says PARIAH."

The really bad thing is that the subliminal message has sunk in so deep that people sputter and wheeze over vapor. Are we really this sensitive? When I was a kid, the malls had ashtrays at every bench, and you'd find butts on the floor at the grocery store, but it was rare to hear people complain. You'd occasionally see people who had a legitimate sensitivity, but it wasn't this big hypochonriac whining that I see now. When smoking was everywhere, people were chill with it. Now you hardly see smoking anywhere, and people fall over themselves coughing and gagging whenever they come within a hundred feet of a smoker.

I saw on another thread (about THIRD hand smoke) that a woman smoked a cigarette outdoors and her neighbor complained that a blanket she had outside on a railing was "contaminated" a whole day later. This is what all these smoking rules are intended to to accomplish. Turn smokers into bad guys, turn non-smokers into hypochondriacs, and turn the two groups loose on each other. And let's face it, the smokers don't have a leg (lung?) to stand on in that fight.

I wish just once in this country we could do things based on reason, science, fact. Instead we create policy on public opinion, marketing, and hyperbole. When did logic and thinking become such a rare commodity?

The problem with having a large group of people making and following a rational intelligent decision is that a person may be smart and rational but put a group of persons together and they become edgy, superstitious and irrational. You get one group of 'popular' people together to say the same thing and people believe them, even if it is irrational.


Clay