Photo credit, Flickr user Valentin.Ottone
Via Jacob Grier, it looks like DC Councilman Jack Evans only likes smoking bans when he’s in a position to manipulate them to exempt organizations of which he is a part. I’d probably do the same thing if I were in office (though I wouldn’t have supported the ban in the first place, so I’d just be inappropriately taking advantage of my position, not taking advantage of my position and being a hypocrite, which is far more distasteful).
But politicians being hypocrites isn’t really surprising news. What’s far more surprising to me is that Smokefree DC still exists and is still run by Angela Bradbury, who, not content with having imposed her personal preference for non-smoking bars on everyone in our fair city, is still sitting up nights worried that someone, somewhere in the District is having fun. And they Must. Be. Stopped.
These fun-havers are doing all kinds of things that can’t be allowed, like smoking on sidewalks, smoking in outdoor cafes, and smoking in their own homes. These are in addition to the exemptions Evans wanted for two specific events this year.
And of course there are the scourges of THIRD-hand smoke and e-cigarettes:
Unfortunately, [Matt Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids] said that e-cigarettes provide an alternative to smoking in smokefree places.
Whoa. Hold on there. We don’t accept that. It’s still unclear whether the chemicals in the vapor emitted from electronic cigarettes is harmful. Plus, there is the confusion factor – a smoker with a real cigarette may see the smoker with the e-cigarette across the restaurant or bar and figure it’s okay to light up. That would burden employees at bars and restaurants with unnecessary enforcement responsibilities.
Yes, hold on there Matt. We don’t want people switching to reduced-harm products like e-cigarettes because we don’t know what the potential dangers of vapor are and we don’t want people to get confused and ask their waiters whether smoking is allowed. Silly, Matt.
I for one look forward to hearing Big Anti Tobacco’s arguments for banning e-cigarette smoking on sidewalks; I’m sure it will have something to do with fifth hand vapor.
Keep it up, Angela. If you blog just a little bit harder, I bet you can make this whole city into the joyless, soulless dystopia you crave.
