Smoking ban on beaches makes perfect sense
Banning smoking outdoors goes too far
Listen, I get it. I get the smoking ban on New Jersey’s beaches and boardwalks, a ban made official when Gov. Phil Murphy signed the law last week.
It’s really quite simple: Come January 1, all beaches and boardwalks in New Jersey will be smoke free, period, full stop. Towns will be able to designate smoking areas on the beach. Some will, most won’t, I imagine.
Smoking is bad, smoking kills, smoking is stupid. I get it.
But smoking is still legal, and banning it outdoors is the height of nonsense.
You want to talk about banning the sale of cigarettes? I’m down with that. In fact, it’s one of my best ideas. Current smokers can buy their cigarettes at cost, with no taxes, from doctors or pharmacies. They’ll get a “smoker’s card” or something. But that’s it. No one else can purchase. This would greatly limit the potential of New Jersey creating new smokers, and the state will be healthier as a result.
But this half-measure? It’s silly.
I’m all for a big ol’ littering fine. No more butts in the sand. Cool with that. But to outright ban smoking? To say lighting up a cigarette is a $250 fine? To not allow people to stroll the boards with a stogie in hand?
Come on. Grow up. A little bit — and I’m talking split seconds — of outdoor secondhand smoke blown in your direction isn’t going to kill you. It’s a solution without a problem.
Besides, I hate when the state goes on these moralistic rampages. We have 565 municipalities for a reason; so each one can have it’s own mayor, council, and dog catcher. If anything, this should be a local decision, not one passed down from on high.
I don’t smoke anymore, wish I never did, will never again, and think it’s gross.
But I also think people should be able to enjoy this particular legal vice outdoors.
Jeff Edelstein is a columnist for The Trentonian.
Smoking should be banned on all New Jersey public beaches and boardwalks with no exceptions.
“The Jersey Shore has always been one of our state’s — and nation’s — great natural treasures, and a place for families to enjoy,” Gov. Phil Murphy said last week.
“Signing this legislation demonstrates my firm commitment to protecting our environment and public health while preserving the quality and cleanliness of our public beaches and park areas.”
The law allows municipalities to designate special smoking areas for smokers. Hopefully most governments opt for a complete ban.
The prohibition goes into effect early next year at all state-owned beaches and parks. Violators caught smoking on the beach will be subject to a $250 fine on the first offense, a $500 fine on the second offense and a $1,000 fine on future violations.
Jeff Tittel, president of the New Jersey Sierra Club, joined Murphy in describing Jersey beaches as a gigantic ashtray for smokers.
Environmental group Clean Ocean Action reported that a 2017 “beach sweep,” collected over 29,000 cigarette butts, plus, numerous other smoking related products including cigarette lighters.
A common conversation with friends involves past social acceptance of smoking in bars, restaurants, planes, bowling alleys and myriad other places.
How and why did we allow such a disgusting habit impact our lives for that long. Remember how clothes and hair smelled after a night out for dinner? Yuck.
Olfactory nerves detect cigarette smoke even while people drive in traffic. Smoke stinks and secondary smoke impacts the health of others.
During a trip to Paris almost two decades ago, flight rules allowed smoking in the last eight rows. We were seated one row in front of the chain smokers, as if that short distance kept us smoke free.
Now that progress has been made on cigarette smoking, let’s hope for eradication of plastic bags and styrofoam containers, cups and plastic ware.
Save Mother Earth because as the popular saying espouses, there’s no Plan-et B.
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist.