Victoria, B.C. Smoking Laws

[Boges]

Sup Nanny State!

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/21/as-victoria-public-smoking-ban-looms-sympathetic-city-councillors-suggest-creating-a-spot-where-smokers-can-kill-themselves-in-peace/

With Victoria set to ban virtually all forms of public smoking, city councillors in the B.C. capital are mulling the creation of small patches of neutral ground in which the region’s 30,000 or so smokers could “kill themselves in peace” without breaking the law.

Under a suite of amendments to the region’s 14-year-old Clean Air Bylaw, smoking is set to be banned in Victoria’s public squares, playgrounds, sports fields, parks and on any patch of sidewalk within seven metres of a window, door or air intake.

Victoria’s smokers effectively will be limited to lighting up in “their own home or in their own vehicle,” Victoria’s director of parks and recreation Kate Friars told a city hall meeting this month.

“What if someone doesn’t have a home or a vehicle?” said City of Victoria councillor Ben Isitt, speaking Monday to the National Post. “If we’re going to have laws, we should ensure that they’re reasonable and they can be enforced.”

That's completely untenable. I smoke the odd cigar in my backyard. That'd be illegal in Victoria? Who's that hurting?

It's funny, in a Province that's so eager to decriminalize and/or legalize pot they're essentially making tobacco smoke illegal.

Is this too far for a local government to go?

[overthere]

Is the environmentally advanced City of Victoria still pumping all their raw, untreated sewage into Georgia Strait?

[The_Squid]

Sup Nanny State!

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/21/as-victoria-public-smoking-ban-looms-sympathetic-city-councillors-suggest-creating-a-spot-where-smokers-can-kill-themselves-in-peace/

That's completely untenable. I smoke the odd cigar in my backyard. That'd be illegal in Victoria? Who's that hurting?

It's funny, in a Province that's so eager to decriminalize and/or legalize pot they're essentially making tobacco smoke illegal.

Is this too far for a local government to go?

You didn't read your own cut/paste... your own yard would be fine. Your yard is not a public space.

[Boges]

You didn't read your own cut/paste... your own yard would be fine. Your yard is not a public space.

But unless you live on an estate or large lot you're likely within 7 meters from someone else's window or intake. On some warm days I can smell the neighbours smoking at night when the window is open.

[The_Squid]

But unless you live on an estate or large lot you're likely within 7 meters from someone else's window or intake. On some warm days I can smell the neighbours smoking at night when the window is open.

You still are not reading it...

"...any patch of sidewalk within seven metres of a window..."

Is your backyard a sidewalk? You could even leave your house and go smoke on the sidewalk as long as it is a respectful (7m) distance away from people's windows.

What part of PUBLIC space are you not getting?

[Boges]

Then why ad the statement that you're effectively only allowed to smoke in your house or car?

Regardless passing a law that says smoking on the sidewalk is illegal is also pretty ridiculous.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Boges

[Bob Macadoo]

Then why ad the statement that you're effectively only allowed to smoke in your house or car?

Regardless passing a law that says smoking on the sidewalk is illegal is also pretty ridiculous.

Only as ridiculous as anywhere else your Second Hand smoke can harm someone else. Would you prefer a 75ft restraining order instead?

[Boges]

Only as ridiculous as anywhere else your Second Hand smoke can harm someone else. Would you prefer a 75ft restraining order instead?

What if no one is around you. You're walking alone down the street smoking. ILLEGAL!!! Because someone might get a fraction of smoke in their window or air intake.

Discretion in this law? If not it's totally Nanny State.

[guyser]

Only as ridiculous as anywhere else your Second Hand smoke can harm someone else. Would you prefer a 75ft restraining order instead?

HI !

Can you please not drive your car anywhere near me? I am having lunch on this patio and those cars are emitting noxious fumes.

K

Thanks and have a nice day

[Bob Macadoo]

HI !Can you please not drive your car anywhere near me? I am having lunch on this patio and those cars are emitting noxious fumes.KThanks and have a nice day

Hence idling laws.....for another matter, we have assessed at this time driving a car has benefit to society to offset the harm......smoking has not....sorry.

What if no one is around you. You're walking alone down the street smoking. ILLEGAL!!! Because someone might get a fraction of smoke in their window or air intake.

As I said the 75ft restraining order is a logistical nightmare......again sorry that your lung tar doesn't rise to equate with proper civil administration.

[WestCoastRunner]

Is the environmentally advanced City of Victoria still pumping all their raw, untreated sewage into Georgia Strait?

Yes, they are but the plant is expected to go live in 2018 at a cost of 738M. Is it worth it? Read it for yourself and come to your own conclusion.

[kimmy]

I'm skeptical that cigarette smoke is more harmful than tailpipe emissions from a typical Victoria automobile, but I doubt they're going to ban people from driving their cars within 7m of a window, door, or air intake.

-k

[bleeding heart]

Yes, I understand the reasoning behind the comparison, but I'm not totally on board.

I do agree that some of the "proper distance" rules for smoking seem arbitrary, even absurd. But auto emissions are a different subject, because vehicles are a different subject altogether.

[Boges]

Yet if you're in a garage full of people smoking you won't die (perhaps if you do it daily for a few decades) but if you're in a garage with a running car you'll die in minutes.

These smoking laws are about marginalizing people. People think if they can smell the smoke they're going to die early. That's of course ridiculous and there are many other things you come across daily that harm you more.

People think if they can successfully turn smokers into pariah's they'll quit. Yet Health Canada still won't allow nicotine E-cigarettes sold in Canada.

When MJ is eventually legalized, I trust people who smoke that will be subject to these laws too. I'd argue Pot smoke is far more unpleasant than Tobacco smoke.

[bleeding heart]

I'm inclined to agree. Catching an occasional whiff of tobacco smoke (and even that isn't terribly common) is harmless. That is not what was ever meant by "second-hand smoke," and I think maybe some people need to re-consider their priorities.

[Boges]

Laws to mitigate Second-hand smoke came about because people who never smoked a day in their life died of lung cancer because they worked in enclosed environments for years around people that smoked.

Banning smoking on the sidewalk will not effect second-hand smoke either way.

[bleeding heart]

Just so. It's sensible ideas gone awry through overkill.

[dre]

Society tends to marginalize small identifiable groups when a certain percentage of people disapprove of their behavior. Im not sure why anyone would be suprised that this would happen in a country like Canada. Think tobacco smokers have it hard? You can get arrested and dragged through the criminal justice system here for having a puff of marijuana.

Dont get me wrong... Im not defending tobacco use. Smoking is an incredibly stupid thing to do and its harmful to individuals and society as a whole as well. But I think things have moved on beyond addressing real public health concerns to simple targetting of identiable minorities... not much different that what homosexuals have faced etc.

Edited April 24, 2014 by dre

[eyeball]

When MJ is eventually legalized, I trust people who smoke that will be subject to these laws too. I'd argue Pot smoke is far more unpleasant than Tobacco smoke.

Butt-heads need to get with the times and switch to tobacco brownies. Speaking of which why shouldn't tobacco freaks be cast into the same gutter of dis-respectability reserved for other druggies?

Seriously though, what about the moral serenity surrounding wine and winos these days, I mean c'mon, wine routes...what's that all about? If MJ is ever legalized will the government supply highway signage encouraging drivers to sample the wares of various grow-ops whilst out for a Sunday drive through the countryside? I think not.

Too bad tobacco wasn't in the Bible eh?

Edited April 24, 2014 by eyeball

[Boges]

I hear baking MJ stinks up your kitchen.

[eyeball]

You really want to go down this road too? Wait until the vegans start agitating for a ban on smoking barbecues in public.

[guyser]

Hence idling laws.....for another matter, we have assessed at this time driving a car has benefit to society to offset the harm......smoking has not....sorry.

Oh....I dunno.....taxes on cigarettes are really high, the govt collects them in amounts far more than they dole out thus ensuring a benefit to society.

But the real shite on this is the govt decides the rules, applicable to you and I the private business owner, but theose same rules are not applicable to the govt.

Case in point...Casino's. There are smoking rooms in a casino.

My fav restaurant isnt allowed to do so, nor can they have a smoking patio out back.

They need to make this a social issue, gentle persuasion or encouragement would suffice....or should.

[Topaz]

The thing about nicotine-a very poisonous alkaloid, ( dictionary meaning for)... the smoke is oily and when it lands on anything is very hard to get rid of it. The smell is stays and stays, after the smokers leaves. As one scientist said, if a person can smell a certain item, then that item is inside your nose and the rest of your body. At the time, he was talking about pig manure.

[The_Squid]

There are no casinos in BC that allow smoking anywhere inside.

[guyser]

There are no casinos in BC that allow smoking anywhere inside.

Good to know, so I will apply that to Ontario only.