Squash City to squash smoking

Jacob Sullum initially noted that the city of Calabasas, California wants to punish those obnoxious, disgusting smokers who dare to light up in public, with jail time as a possibility.

The exceptions are private residences, up to 20 percent of hotel rooms, "smokers' outposts" in shopping center parking lots, and "any outdoor area in which no non-smoker is present and...it is not reasonable to expect another person to arrive." The smoke-free areas, a.k.a. "everywhere else," include sidewalks, streets, bus stops, parks, the outdoor seating of bars and restaurants, and apartment balconies near common areas such as pools or laundry rooms.

Dr. Spin from the City of Calabasas wrote back that no, the crime would be a mere infraction, punishable by fine. Sullum went back to the text of the ordinance, [pdf] which clearly gives the city the power to level a misdemeanor charge. Snarks Sullum, "So the city's position is that although it has the authority the put smokers in jail, it will never use that authority. If so, why put it in the ordinance to begin with?"

One time, in a fit of rhetoric, I suggested that smoking might be entirely banned in the next two decades, and my conversation partner scoffed. When it's against the law to smoke outdoors, the prospect loses its far-fetchedness. We're going crazy for tobacco puffs.



(See also my commentaries on I-901, the anti-smoking initiative that exorcised Demon Second-hand Smoke from Washington State. Learn about calabazas here.)