Could smokers be forced to butt out cigarettes?

Confession, I’m an ex-smoker. Like many, I became hooked on nicotine at a relatively early age in an era when smoking was deemed as “cool.”

Having finally given up on cigarettes after years of puffing and spending, I still can relate to smokers. I feel bad for them frankly as I can attest to the unrelenting grip that holds smokers tight and doesn’t want to let go. Breaking free of cigarettes is one of the hardest things that I have ever done and I would not have been able to do so, had it not been for the assistance of a vaporizer or “vape.” So, recent reports about the nearby town of Hampstead considering the adoption of a bylaw banning people from smoking on municipal property really caught my attention. Now, with five municipal councillors voting in favour versus two opposed, the bylaw will come into force.

The bylaw reads: “Tobacco use on all municipal properties including parks, streets, sidewalks, municipal vehicles, municipal buildings and land adjacent to such buildings is prohibited.” The town’s public security will enforce the bylaw. Anyone caught infringing the bylaw is liable to be fined. A first-time offender risks a minimum fine of $250. The amount of the fine doubles to a minimum of $500 for repeat offenders. The bylaw also includes: “Any tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, pipes and all other products or substances, vegetable or chemical, that can be smoked by any instrument.” Electronic cigarettes are exempt from the prohibition “however, provincial regulations continue to apply with respect to restrictions on the use of this product.”

My reaction to the news that Hampstead had adopted the new bylaw is to question the ability or authority of a municipality to stringently ban public smoking while provincial and federal laws still allow for it legally, albeit with many restrictions.

Regardless of Hampstead’s premise that the new bylaw is intended as an advance measure that would also deal with potential impending issues as a result of intended cannabis legalization and consumption in public places, the new bylaw will likely be difficult to enforce.

Could Off-Island town councils do the same? If your council moved to ban public smoking of tobacco with a similar stringent bylaw such as the town of Hampstead has done, would you support it or oppose it?