Boston Smoking Ban Update

[Colt45]

From The Boston Globe:

LINK

Public Health

Boston bans cigarette sales in drug stores but delays cigar bar closings

Gideon Gil December 11, 2008 04:58 PM

By Stephen Smith, Globe Staff

Cigar bars and other swank salons devoted to smoking won a significant though temporary reprieve from Boston health regulators today, who decided that the establishments will face extinction in 10 years instead of the five-year grace period originally proposed as part of sweeping new tobacco control rules.

The regulations, approved unanimously by the Boston Public Health Commission, also ban cigarette sales at drugstores and on college campuses in the city and eliminate smoking on the patios of restaurants and bars with outside service. Those restrictions will go into effect in 60 days.

The restrictions give Boston among the most stringent antismoking laws in the United States and place it at the vanguard of widening campaigns to reduce cigarette smoking, especially among young people and the poor.

While major pharmacy chains and tobacco companies quietly fought the rules, the most fervent opposition emerged from the owners and patrons of cigar bars and ****** lounges, where customers take long drags on flavored tobacco from a communal water pipe.

After considering those protests, the health commission -- which includes a top heart doctor and the leaders of two community health centers -- decided that a five-year grace period would give the cigar bar and lounge owners too little time to prepare for the loss of their businesses.

At the end of the 10-year period, smoking bars may ask the executive director of the health commission for a further grace period, the commission decided. The city now has six cigar bars and five ****** lounges. No new ones will be permitted to open in the city, however.

"Cigarettes are bad, they're harmful to people, there's a need for us to change the social norms around cigarettes," said commission member Harold Cox, an associate dean at the Boston University School of Public Health. "Our responsibility as governmental officials is to protect people."

[anacostiakat]

Well I guess that is something.

I wonder how these jackasses feel about taking someone's livelihood.

[Colt45]

I wonder how these jackasses feel about taking someone's livelihood.

My smart aleck answer is that when you've got a government with a senator who's taken a life, taking a livelihood is of

little consequence.

But what I think truly bothers me is the slow, deliberate erosion of personal freedom and responsibility, and the intrusion,

more and more, of government in our lives.

[El Presidente]

But what I think truly bothers me is the slow, deliberate erosion of personal freedom and responsibility, and the intrusion,

more and more, of government in our lives.

Amen Colt.

[Guest rob]

Well said Colt!

[Boston Mike]

I wonder what they will go after next? The money that the state gets from tobacco tax must be tremendous! They will go after something else next.

I love Boston! I love the culture, architecture, the people, and everything there is to do. I just don't understand why you can't have a specific place for a specific thing. I understand banning smoking in restaurants. People who don't smoke, don't want to eat around smoking. No Problem. However, if there is a place for smoking, and only people who smoke will go there, why is that a problem? There are bars that serve booze, and if you don't drink, you don't go there!

By the way, while we are on the subject, if they want to keep kids from getting addicted to cigarettes why don't they raise the smoking age to 21? Kinda blows my mind that smoking is so bad but if you are 18 you can buy butts.

[Don Candido]

Smoking laws! Look, how much we give up all the time, in all areas of life. What once were rights are now crimes.

[armedak]

I'm from the Government and I'm here to help you whether you want it or not!!

[bassman]

In October they banned smoking on the casino floor in Atlantic City. Business dropped off so much the ban was reversed a month later.

[Thomas]

Boston is packed full of uptight, holier than though, stuck up, unfriendly people who are constantly finding new and improved ways to **** with each other.

next will be the sidewalks

[danm.528i]

The 10 year period might as well be 99 years, it was just a way for the political hacks to save face. Rather than admit that they overstepping their authority by mandating the closing of legitimate small businesses, they want to come off as being magnanimous. Over the next 10 years, either the intrusion on personal rights will continue, in which case this agreement will be usurped, or these nitwits will decide to address real issues that effect the quality of life for their constituents, in which case the 10 year extension and 10 year option will come and go without any action being taken. Unfortunately, I would bet on the first scenario being the one that is more likely to happen.

And Thomas, what happened, did you get a parking ticket the last time you were in Boston?

[greenpimp]

"Our responsibility as governmental officials is to protect people."

This is kicker for me. This sentiment of being protected from ourselves is Orwellian and I am so sick of it.

I lived in Boston for four years. Would be a shame to see it happen.

[Colt45]

The 10 year period might as well be 99 years, it was just a way for the political hacks to save face.

Dan, I've been thinking along the same lines - I hope you are right. I am still bothered by the outdoor ban. As an example, the rooftop deck of the Rattlesnake was a great place to have a drink, grab a bite, and have a smoke.

But the thing I always noticed was that more than anything else, it seemed people gathered there to socialize. Smoking

was a part of that, and even though mainly cigarettes, being out in the open it was never an issue, whether you were

eating or not.

Whether they realize it or not, city officials are taking away a part of the city's culture.

[Thomas]

.

And Thomas, what happened, did you get a parking ticket the last time you were in Boston?

lol,,,worked there for twenty years, had my fill of those sheeple. further away I am the better I feel

not to mention you have the richest people in the state working and living, over-looking the poorest and oppressed folks anywhere