SAN DIEGO – The City Council has told smokers to keep their butts off the beach.
Worried about the health effects of secondhand smoke and sick of cleaning up discarded cigarettes, San Diego has banned smoking at its beaches and parks. The city joins nearly 2,300 other municipalities across the nation that have barred smoking in a variety of public places.
In California, smoking bans have caught fire in beach communities. At least 35 cities, including Malibu, Santa Monica and Long Beach, now have ordinances to keep smokers from lighting up on the sand.
Several smokers at San Diego’s Ocean Beach welcomed the ban, which was passed late Tuesday.
“I think it’s a good idea, as long as they don’t make us stop drinking,” said beach resident Libby Brignon, a smoker who is fed up with finding butts in the sand.
Solana Beach, about 20 miles north of San Diego, became the first beach town in California to enact a smoking ban two years ago. Officials have been pleased with the results.
“You have to look really hard to find a cigarette butt,” city manager David Ott said.
According to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, 17 states now have laws in effect to regulate smoking in public places. That means 44.5 percent of the U.S. population is restricted from puffing at bars, restaurants and other locations.
“Nonsmokers are fed up and fighting for their rights to clean air,” said Robert Berger, president of Healthier Solutions Inc., a nonsmokers rights group.
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