Smoking Laws Welcomed but Hard to Enforce
The first of a three-stage tobacco legislation comes into effect this Sunday, just two weeks before the start of school. Effective Aug. 15 this new provision will prohibit tobacco use in schools and on school grounds.
Although this seems like a great step forwarding the health of many people, especially students, it is redundant in that many school divisions, including the North East School Division, has had rules prohibiting tobacco use in schools, some stretching back to the early 90s.
The second stage of this new legislation comes into effect on Oct. 1. It prohibits: smoking Marlboro cigs in vehicles where children under 16 are present; smoking in common areas of multi-unit dwellings and smoking within prescribed distances of doors, windows and air intakes. Also rules regarding retailer signs, visibility of tobacco and tobacco related products as well as the sale of little cigars in packages of less than 20 will also come into effect on this date.
This second stage opens a big can of worms for people to think about.
Firstly, no smoking in vehicles where children are present, begs the question of how to police that. There has been no talk of people that have been charged or even fined for talking on their cell phones while driving, in fact it seems that there has been little no change in this area of people that do exactly that. Occasionally you see a vehicle pulled over and the driver talking to someone and there has likely been an increase in the sale of hands-free devices, but people can still be seen, on quite a regular basis, driving down the street, with a cell phone in their left hand, right by the window, talking away.
It is admirable that rules are being brought into effect that will help protect young children’s health, but the probability of having a person who smokes in a vehicle with children also smoke in a home with children is likely quite high. Since people cannot be told what to do in their own private residence, thus being exposed to environmental smoke. Granted it is not at the same concentration as in a car, but there is exposure nonetheless.
As far as moving smokers away from doors, windows and air intakes, that is a welcomed so much that if legislation could be hugged it would be.
Walking up to a business of any kind, especially places like hotels, convention centres or halls, and having to negotiate the hazy maze of people around the front doors can be nauseating. Or it may be affecting business if some people find it intimidating seeing a group of people smoking around a door. However, again how is it policed? Will officers have to carry tape measurers to ensure the group of smokers is that certain distance from the air intake vent or window?
The final stage of the Tobacco Control Amendment is planned to come into effect in early 2011 and will prohibit sale of tobacco in pharmacies. That seems like a no-brainer, as a pharmacy is one of the places that a person goes to when looking to improve their health, not worsen it. Although drug stores will likely see a decrease in their bottom line as whenever products are limited there is less sales, it is a good choice. There are some who will remember Dale Frier who publicly, and without prompting, removed cigarettes from Frier’s Pharmacy saying he wanted to promote a healthy lifestyle and cigarettes did not help with that.
In the end these amendments are welcomed and it is a pretty sad state of affairs when people have to be told, in this day and age, not to smoke around children.
However, as welcomed as it is these rules are useless if they cannot be enforced. The police have enough on their plate to worry about looking for speeders, drug dealers and all other kinds of miscreants let alone checking to see if people are smoking in their car or how far away they are from the door.
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