Smokefree Policy in Wayne

Smoking will be banned at municipal parks, swimming pools and lakes under an ordinance that the Township Council adopted unanimously on Wednesday night. The smoking prohibition under the ordinance extends to all 1,859 acres of township parks and swimming centers, including parking areas, and bans electronic cigarettes, which some smokers use while trying to quit. The law is expected to go into effect on Sept. 27. “Some day I hope to see no one smoking,” said Councilman Alan Purcell, a former smoker with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Before the ordinance was adopted, smoking had been banned at Dave Waks Memorial Park, which is also known as Barbour Pond Park, as well as at James W. Roe Memorial Pool and Tom’s Lake, but it was allowed in the parking lots at those locations. Smoking was allowed at all other township parks. “For health reasons, this is really in the best interest for all our residents,” Mayor Christopher Vergano said. “Our parks, pools and lakes are used mostly by younger people, and we have an obligation to protect them and others from second-hand smoke.”

Less Smoking and Cigarettes in Campuses

Faculty and students are holding their breath for the campus-wide smoking ban that will take place on UCF’s main campus in the upcoming fall semester. Although the school is offering resources to educate nonsmokers and cessation workshops for smokers, not all students are onboard with the health initiative, and many are questioning how it will be enforced. Troy Taylor, a senior studying digital media and a frequent smoker, doesn’t understand how the university will prevent students from lighting up cigarettes. “Is it going to be fines, verbal warnings, something else?” Taylor said. “Really, I don’t know what they can do.” Megan Pabian, a coordinator for university relations and public affairs at the UCF Health Center, said strict enforcement is not completely necessary. She emphasized the anti-smoking policy is not to hassle students but to instill a cultural norm on campus that will lessen cigarettes and smoking.

Tobacco Use in Norcross City Banned

The Norcross city council has voted to rescind the citywide tobacco ban. CBS Atlanta reports that the ban was supposed to go into effect Monday. But the council voted unanimously to scrap the entire ordinance, which would have banned all tobacco use in the city. The council members in February passed a new ordinance banning smoking in Norcross, meaning no smoking on sidewalks downtown, at city hall and in public parks. Residents spoke out against the ban during the public comment part of Monday's council meeting. Council member Ross Kaul says he might consider a more focused ban at some point in the future.

Smoking Ban Supported by Justices

Ohio's voter-initiated ban on indoor public smoking, the first enacted in the Midwest and among the strictest in the nation, is constitutional and enforceable, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Wednesday. The decision struck a blow against stubborn bars and their customers who smoked and then doused their cigarettes in plastic cups after ashtrays were removed. Opponents of the law argued that it amounted to an unconstitutional taking of their private property and unfairly targeted business owners while ignoring the smokers themselves. The high court called the Ohio Smoke-Free Workplace Act "a valid exercise of the state's police power" as it rejected a challenge from Zeno's Victorian Village, a Columbus tavern that has been cited 10 times and fined $33,000.

Smuggling Tobacco, Bulgaria News

Bulgaria's organized crime will see their old favorite - illegal cigarette sales - boom after smoking is banned in all enclosed public spaces as of June 1, an expert has warned. The smoking ban will come into force in Bulgaria as of June 1 2012 and will be applied also in cafes, bars and restaurants, regardless of size. "The ban on smoking in all enclosed public places will lead to an even greater increase in cigarette smuggling and will weaken the flow of revenues to the budget," argues Tihomir Bezlov, an expert from the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD). He pointed out that taxes from tobacco products account for 10% of budget revenues (compared with about 1.4% in many other EU countries), which makes the country's finances highly dependent on that market.

Smoking Ban Still Divisive

One year after South Dakota voters banned smoking in bars, restaurants and casinos -- 65 percent to 35 percent -- few dispute that the smoking ban has left a major mark on the state. The state budget has seen video-lottery and cigarette-tax revenue plummet by 10 percent to 20 percent. On the other hand, doctors say the health of the state's residents has improved in immediate as well as long-lasting ways. Businesses that allowed smoking in the past, meanwhile, say the new law has driven away customers and hurt the bottom line. Among the most wide-ranging effects of the ban appears to be that fewer people are smoking. In 2010, only 15.4 percent of South Dakotans smoked, down from 22.7 percent in 2003. Smoking data for 2011 isn't yet available, but from July 2010 to June 2011, South Dakotans bought 75 million fewer cigarettes -- a 9 percent decline and the first decline in three years, according to data from the state Department of Health. "We know from many other states that the fewer places available to smoke, the more people will want to quit," said Dr. Allen Nord, a Rapid City physician and anti-smoking advocate.