On July 30, 2014 the city of Wilmington, DE gave notice that it was looking to expand smoking restrictions in the city. The city asked residents for comments on the proposal via email, Facebook and Twitter. From that announcement on July 30, until August 8th only 20 comments were received that were 10 for expansion, and 10 against. The city of Wilmington currently doesn’t allow smoking in public spaces such as libraries, museums, non-tobacco shops, government […]
What is often referred to as the best kept secret on Fiji, the town of Savusavu has become tobacco free. The town on the island nation joins a list of more then 1000 towns and cities that have banned tobacco use in public places. Savusavu in enacting the ban has been granted them membership to the World Health Organisation’s ‘Healthy Cities and Towns’ network. Savusavu is home to 3300 residents.
Chatham-Kent, a municipality in Ontario, Canada has passed a smoking ordinance which goes into effect today. Located due east of Detroit in the USA; and Windsor in Canada, the ordinance prohibits smoking in parks, playgrounds, bus stops, beaches and sports fields. What makes this law different is that it allowed anyone who operates an event or property in the municipality can opt-in and have their facility or residence fall under the non-smoking law. Violators of […]
Starting on Monday, September 1, 2014 Western Michigan University joins the list of higher learning establishments with smoking laws. WMU joins 5 other public universities in the state of Michigan to go smoke free. The others joining the movement are University of Michigan, Michigan Technological University, Oakland University and Central Michigan University. The new ban means smoking will not be allowed anywhere on campus, with the lone exception of being able to light up inside […]
In a state that legalized marijuana, one would least expect Colorado to not join the anti-smoking push that is under way across the country. In Golden, CO the city council has just approved an ordinance to limit tobacco use in public spaces. Ordinance 1985 prohibits smoking in outdoor city-owned property, which includes city parks, trails, Fossil Trace Golf Course, Clear Creek RV Park, and public events on any city street or right of way. The […]
The Honolulu, HI City Council’s Public Safety and Economic Development Committee has advanced a bill to raise the legal smoking age to 21. Bill 51 was introduced by Democrat, Stanley Chang. Despite the majority of people speaking against the proposed change, the bill was still passed. The current smoking age is 18. Honolulu is home to 375,000 people over 68.42 square miles.
California is probably the most liberal state in the country and many of the smoking bans started here and moved their way east. The scariest of which is the growing trend of smoking bans on private property. Yesterday, in Santa Rosa, CA the City Council announced support of banning smoking inside condominiums, apartments and most public places. As the first public hearing came to a close on the issue, the council instructed the planning staff to move […]
Medway, MA has passed a series of tobacco regulations including the restriction of sales to anyone under the age of 21. On Monday, the Board of Health passed further regulations that also restrict the sales of tobacco. The board wanted to ban the sales of individual cigars under $7.50 but after several public comments the board decreased the price to $2.50. Without the effort of the people who took the time to comment publicly these […]
The Ocean City, MD Town Council is set to meet today and a smoking ban is back on the agenda. Under discussion at today’s meeting will be whether or not to regular, eliminate or allow smoking on the beach and boardwalk. The planning and zoning committee is calling for fines that range from $25 to $1,000. There is also a discussion about creating smoking zones which the cost the resort town as much as $20,000 […]
On Tuesday the Hancock County, WV County Board of Health is set to vote on a smoking ban that the can cost the county’s largest employer 20 percent of its business. Mountaineer Casino which has a staff of 1,300 has opposed the proposed smoking ban at every public meeting over the past year. The casino is minutes from the state line and a short distance from casino’s with no smoking bands. The proposal, previously approved […]