San Rafael, Calif. Passes Ban That Makes It Illegal To Smoke In Own House If Walls Are Shared With

[appleannie1]

Another Dwelling



The town of San Rafael, Calif., has passed a ban on smoking that city officials have called the most stringent in the nation. The new ordinance makes it illegal for residents to smoke in their own homes if they share a wall with another dwelling.

The ban applies to owners and renters alike, and it covers condominiums, co-ops, apartments and any multi-family residence containing three or more units.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/california-town-bans-smoking-condos-apartments-share-walls/story?id=20955196

I don't smoke but I think this is wrong. No town should be able to tell people what they can or can't do in the privacy of their own home. What if they did not like how you had sex? Or that you ate meat on Friday? What if they did not like the TV stations you watched? If you let them dictate to you on one thing, what is the next step?

[LeftofObama]

2. I agree!

As a non-smoker I couldn't care less if someone smokes in their own home, in a park, or in their car. I will, however, say this to the anti smoking Nazis...Be careful what you wish for.

Don't go looking for sympathy from the smokers when your unhealthy fat inducing soda pop is taxed to death and eventually banned.

Don't go looking for sympathy from the smokers when your fat inducing, artery clogging, HFCS laden, Little Debby snack cakes are taxed to death and banned.

Don't go looking for sympathy from the smokers when your meat lovers pizza is taxed to death and banned.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

[Heather MC]

14. Though I would never make a federal case about it. In my condo

I smell when someone is smoking outside. the smell can fill the room. I am allergic to cigarette smoke.
I have a friend who smokes I Can only be in her house for about 20 mins before I am sneezing, and my eyes are watering. The same thing would happen if I rode in her car

My father is a smoker he just moved to a small assisted living home. I can't step foot in his unit, he sits in a chair and smokes all day. Apparently some people in the home complained so he can't do that anymore. The windows in his unit don't open so it's like walking into a chimney with a fire going

It may be an intrusive law, but if I had neighbors that smoked, I would have no choice but to complain about it because of my allergy

[appleannie1]

3. This really has nothing to do with conservative or liberal. What if someone had a grill top in

their kitchen. That produces smoke. Will that be the next thing to be banned? If I smoked and had paid half a million for a condo and someone told me I could not smoke in my own house, I would be outraged.

[Shrike47]

4. This ordinance strikes me as an unreasonable intrusion into the lives and choices of others.

Do they think the smoke seeps through the walls?

[shraby]

5. No they don't. It's what is called "control over others."

[Heather MC]

16. It does in my Condo

I smell seeps in if some sits on the front porch outside and smokes
I am allergic to cigarettes. I am just lucky non of my neighbors are smokers. So far

[pnwmom]

20. It does. Through electrical outlets, ductwork, etc.

http://www.tobaccofreeca.com/smoking-problem/secondhand-smoke/in-home/

Scientific studies show that smoke from a neighboring apartment can travel through ventilation systems, pipes, walls, open windows and doors, electrical sockets and even tiny cracks in plaster and drywall.1

While many Californians have made the choice to not allow smoking inside their homes, many living in apartments and condominiums are still exposed to drifting toxic secondhand smoke.

One third of Californians live in multi-unit housing2 where units share walls, floors or ceilings, which means that millions may be exposed to secondhand smoke even if they do not allow smoking in their unit.3

Tobacco smoke is also absorbed into walls, floors, furniture, clothes, toys and other household surfaces within minutes to hours after it is exhaled.4 Chemicals in the smoke can then be recycled into the air for hours, days and even months.5 Airing out rooms or separating the smoking from nonsmoking units within the same building does not always provide protection.6

SNIP

[malaise]

6. Not really - let the rich smoke themselves to death

Illnesses are reduced when people quit smoking.

I support all the cigarette bans - We're seeing the benefits.

[solarhydrocan]

7. Should there be a ban on smoking cannabis?

I support all the cigarette bans - We're seeing the benefits.
-malaise

[malaise]

13. Ganja is not harmful

Indeed it has several medicinal properties. That is not true for cigarettes.
Public smoking of anything violates lots of people's rights.

[tsuki]

8. How do they police this law? I know here that it is difficult to

get a law officer to come if you have been robbed, or your car has been stolen. They are busy with drug cases and "major" crimes.

[Heather MC]

17. It would be impossible. It takes about 7 mins to smoke a Cigarette

By the time police get there no crime is being committed
Besides I would hope people have nice neighbors that would not call the police as a first step.

[Agnosticsherbet]

9. Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette

[ccsar]

10. Nobody much cared

When it started with mandatory helmet laws for motorcycles. Ever since the govt. has been slowly taking away what we can do. It's all fun and games until the new prohibition hits your particular group. And it will. Only then will you say "How can they get away with that?"

[Tutonic]

11. Fun and games? helmets?

OK.

[alarimer]

18. The government has a vested interest in safety

Our taxes pay for the EMTs that have to mop up someone's brains if they aren't wearing a helmet. So we all have an interest in reducing those costs.

EMTs, nurses and doctors could spend their time on treating other people if they didn't have to treat accident victims.

On the other hand, helmet laws probably mean fewer organs being donated, so there is that.

[ccsar]

21. Over the years

I've had some friends who were saved from more serious injuries by the helmet, but 2 died when the helmet snapped their necks. In both cases the doctors said they likely would have survived without too many injuries had they not been wearing them. Myself, I've been down several times at speeds up to about 50 MPH and never once has my head hit the ground. All that said if I knew for a fact I was gonna go down on a ride I'd rather be wearing one, but I want to be able to make the choice myself. Same with seat belts. One did save my life as a passenger in a rollover accident when we went into a ravine and although on that particular road I would have been wearing it anyway I don't like being told that I must.

[Raven]

12. As a smoker, I understand this. I shared a party wall

in a condo townhouse a few years ago and my neighbors came to me and asked me not to smoke in the lower floor of the house because it came into their house. I stopped because I felt that nothing I do which is unhealthy should encroach on someone else.

[DrDan]

15. I have no problem with this - if another is endangered, then it should be controlled

[pnwmom]

19. First there's the risk of fire. There's also the shared ductwork for many

apartment dwellers, plus smoke can seep through walls.

Should I really have to breathe smokers' dirty air?