Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 16

Thread: First No Smoking State

  1. #1
    dirty old man
    I see on TV and read where CA wants to become the first completely no smoking state. Well, I know the very last will be NV. Someone needs to set up a site for people in the two states to exchange homes/careers. For those who don't know, you can't smoke indoors, in stadiums, at the beach and others in CA. Thats not all bad

  2. #2
    MAINEVENT
    I see on TV and read where CA wants to become the first completely no smoking state. Well, I know the very last will be NV. Someone needs to set up a site for people in the two states to exchange homes/careers. For those who don't know, you can't smoke indoors, in stadiums, at the beach and others in CA. Thats not all bad
    Good Luck :rollside:

  3. #3
    Havasu_Dreamin
    Good Luck :rollside:
    It's already happening in at least one city. I would not put it past the legislature of this State to pass something like this.
    Reprinted without the permission of the LA Times.
    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...=la-home-local
    From the Los Angeles Times
    Tobacco Foes See an Opening
    Secondhand smoke's designation as a toxic contaminant gives politicians and activists extra ammunition for more restrictions.
    By Janet Wilson
    Times Staff Writer
    February 6, 2006
    Paul Scott recalls sitting trapped in the back of his family's station wagon as a boy in the 1960s, his parents chain-smoking up front.
    "The smoke would be thick in there; you just couldn't get away from it … the stench most of all," said Scott, 53, of Santa Monica. "It gave me headaches. I remember looking outside and wishing I could breathe that air instead."
    Scott has never smoked. But in 2002, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer. The likely cause, his doctors told him, was the secondhand smoke he breathed throughout childhood.
    California air regulators have recently classified this drifting byproduct of cigarettes as a toxic contaminant that can kill or harm bystanders, especially children, a designation that is a first for any government.
    "If my parents had known, they never would have done it," Scott said.
    The Air Resources Board has three years to enact any additional regulations needed to protect the public from secondhand smoke, a task the board's spokesman said could be difficult because of the state's already stringent anti-smoking laws. But the designation has already given a boost to local governments and private entities working to restrict smoking.
    Last week the Calabasas City Council unanimously passed an ordinance banning smoking in outdoor spaces when other people are in the area.
    Calabasas officials had been "feeling the heat" from smokers who opposed the proposed law, said Mayor Barry Groveman. But the state's "extraordinary" action Jan. 26 silenced the critics.
    "There is a clean-air god, and he or she smiled on Calabasas," Groveman said. "I'm going to call on all my fellow mayors to do the same thing. Now that California has taken this step, why should people have to wait two or three years when cities can do it so much more quickly?"
    The designation in California, which leads the way nationally in anti-smoking laws, will substantially change how the public perceives the risk of secondhand smoke "and create a very major demand to do something about it," said Stanton Glantz, a UC San Francisco professor of medicine who served on a scientific panel that unanimously recommended the air board take action.
    "Two things at the top of everybody's list are dealing with smoke in cars and dealing with drift of smoke from one apartment or condo to another," Glantz said. "This is going to speed the solution to those problems. Exactly how, I don't know, but I'm quite confident it will happen."
    Some anti-smoking activists have an ambitious list.
    "Doorways, bus stops, outdoor waiting lines of any kind, also the ATM: They should all be nonsmoking," said Esther Schiller, director of Smokefree Air for Everyone, a Granada Hills nonprofit, noting that the Centers for Disease Control suggests that people with heart disease, cancer or asthma avoid places with smoke.
    Dozens of California cities already have laws limiting or prohibiting smoking at beaches, piers or parks.
    Public health advocates have also set their sights on Native American-owned casinos, since state scientists concluded for the first time that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer in pre-menopausal women.
    "Bartenders, waitresses and card dealers are all at risk," said Theresa Boscher, co-director of Resources and Education Supporting People Everywhere Controlling Tobacco, a Sacramento nonprofit group launching a campaign to persuade tribal leaders to ban smoking in their 50-plus casinos. She said that although Indian nations did not have to abide by state or local laws, "the state's action gives us an entree to talk to them."
    A spokeswoman for Pechanga Casino and Resort said they had set aside one-sixth of their 180,000-square-foot gaming floor for nonsmokers and that fresh air was pumped into the casino every three minutes.
    The voluminous report by California EPA and Air Resources Board staff found that an estimated 4,700 Californians died annually from illnesses caused by secondhand smoke, including heart disease, cancers and sudden infant death syndrome. Thousands more children suffer asthma attacks and other problems.
    About 16% of Californians smoke, down from previous years and far less than other areas of the country. But 56% of adults and 64% of adolescents are exposed to secondhand smoke. The highest exposure — 10 times greater than elsewhere — is in cars.
    Tobacco companies that objected in written comments before the air board's decision last week either did not return calls or declined to comment on the likelihood of new tougher state laws.
    In a general policy statement, Philip Morris USA spokeswoman Jennifer Golisch said, "We … believe that particular care should be exercised where children are concerned, and adults should avoid smoking around them. We also believe the conclusions of public health officials concerning environmental tobacco smoke are sufficient to warrant measures that regulate smoking in public places."
    In 2004, state legislators failed to pass a law banning smoking in vehicles in which children rode. Former Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh (D-Los Angeles), now running for the state Senate, sponsored the measure.
    "It was fought tooth and nail by the tobacco industry," Firebaugh said. He said tobacco lobbyists told him that the law "climbed into the family unit and dictated how to raise children." If elected, he said, he will try to reintroduce the legislation. The air board's action "strengthens our argument considerably," Firebaugh said. "I think it would have much more likelihood of success."
    In Santa Monica, a group of renters is in the early stages of seeking a city ordinance to separate smoking and nonsmoking tenants.
    Beth Miller, a 52-year-old chef, moved into her high-rent, high-rise Santa Monica apartment three years ago because "I love where it is. Right at the beach."
    An asthmatic, she made sure to check with the leasing company that none of her neighbors smoked. But the neighbor whose patio adjoins hers regularly smokes cigars, and two neighbors below her smoke cigarettes. The patio sliding door is her only source of ventilation on hot days. She said she had spoken to her neighbor and complex managers numerous times, with no success.
    "I know it's huge to ask people to move, or not to smoke," she said. "But I think if we could change the floors to smoking and nonsmoking, it would work," she said. Santa Monica elected officials did not respond to requests for comment.
    Thousand Oaks officials passed a law last year requiring separate smoking and nonsmoking areas in low-cost housing projects receiving city money. Schiller said all public housing projects should do the same. She said nearly 300 private apartment owners had notified her office that they rented smoke-free buildings or areas. She said not renting to smokers was legal and was also reducing cleaning costs for owners.
    Although there is a booming market for nonsmoking rental units, "it's tough to enforce," said Shari Rosen, head of the 1,000 member Rental Housing Owners Assn., covering the San Fernando Valley and Ventura. She said cities often made it hard to evict tenants, even if a ban on smoking was written into a lease.
    Many experts say increasing public awareness about the dangers of secondhand smoke is the single best tool for change. In the early 1990s a tremendous public outcry led to the passage of the California Smoke-Free Workplace Act in 1994. Most people waiting at a busy bus stop in downtown Riverside recently said smoking should be banned wherever possible, except perhaps in one's own home. Smoking is already forbidden on public transportation, so smokers regularly use bus and rail stops for a last-chance puff, locations that many would like made smoke-free zones.
    "There's a lot of elderly people and a lot of kids with asthma that ride the bus, and they don't need to be around smoke" while waiting, said Regina Moffit, 43. She thought ATM lines were fair game too.
    But smokers were incensed.
    "I think it's ridiculous," said Amy Dunne, 30, a pack-a-day smoker who said she always stands off to the side at a bus stop, "away from the crowd," when she lights up. She sees regulating it in open air as an infringement on her rights. "They might as well just ban it everywhere," she said.
    But even the fiercest activists are not advocating outlawing nicotine completely.
    Referring to the outlawing of alcohol in the 1920s, Schiller said, "Remember Prohibition? It didn't work."

  4. #4
    Tom Brown
    What about cha?
    I'm not giving up cha. No one touches my plug.

  5. #5
    Jbb
    What about cha?
    I'm not giving up cha.
    No more California bong hits for you.......Tard.......lol

  6. #6
    maxwedge
    Pobably wont be too long until you can't go boating either. Wastes too much gasoline and puts toxins in the air. :220v:

  7. #7
    Dave C
    don't joke... they already threw wackas off of tahoe.
    now I can't buy a twin whacka boat.... :cry:

  8. #8
    burtandnancy
    I'll drink to that...

  9. #9
    little rowe boat
    I'll drink to that...
    Me too.

  10. #10
    Tom Brown
    ... they already threw wackas off of tahoe.
    It's a small price to pay for clean air and peace of mind.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. My kid is smoking pot..........
    By rmarion in forum Sandbar
    Replies: 119
    Last Post: 06-13-2007, 04:58 PM
  2. California; First No Smoking State
    By dirty old man in forum Sandbar
    Replies: 82
    Last Post: 10-10-2006, 03:40 PM
  3. Truckin's State 2 State cruise to Havasu
    By Wicked1 in forum Boating, West
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 01-23-2005, 12:13 AM
  4. The Smoking Man is Gone
    By Jungle Boy in forum Sandbar
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 02-24-2004, 07:32 PM
  5. is sex better with a smoking hot
    By Blown 472 in forum Sandbar
    Replies: 80
    Last Post: 09-12-2003, 10:51 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •