Fresh air vs. smokers' rights?

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Should we ban smoking in homes?
By Kelvin Wade
From page A7 | March 21, 2013 | 2 Comments

Assemblyman Mark Levine (D-Marin) proposed Assembly Bill 746, which bans smoking in any residential property with two or more units that share a wall, floor, ceiling or ventilation system. Yes, it would be the most sweeping anti-smoking law in the country banning smoking inside condos, apartments, town houses and duplexes. The law would not affect standalone homes.

According to the U.S. Census, nearly 22 percent of housing units in Solano County are in multiple-unit structures. So, if passed, the new law would affect one in five homes.

The first time I heard about this law, I opposed it. It sounded like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s nanny-state soda law that was recently overturned.

After all, your home is your castle. If I want to walk around my house in a red lace thong with an AR-15 strapped to my back and a 64-ounce Big Gulp in one hand, a fat cigar in the other and a double-cheeseburger stuck in my mouth, I should be able to do that.

But there is that pesky problem of secondhand smoke. No one has the right to force someone else to inhale carcinogens in their own home when that smoke seeps through shared walls, plumbing, ventilation and other spaces. And it’s not just the fear of cancer but the fact that passive smoke is responsible for asthma attacks, bronchitis and other illnesses.

Should you have to breathe someone’s smoke just because you live in an apartment?

Like any new law, people will gripe, but the majority will comply. Before California banned smoking in businesses in 1995, people could smoke anywhere. My friend Dan and I would light up cigars in Solano mall and smoke. Young people today can’t imagine that at one time you could smoke in the mall, in stores and restaurants. When the ban came, we complied and I eventually quit smoking altogether.

Fairfield has a tough anti-smoking ordinance in the municipal code, but private residences, of course, are exempted. But many cities such as San Rafael and Petaluma have already instituted residential bans.

Some say the law isn’t fair as it singles out people who can’t afford standalone homes. But if we’re to err in this case, we need to come down on the side of nonsmokers, especially nonsmokers in apartments who can’t afford to move to get away from the smoke.

The law would impose a $100 fine for an infraction and also allow landlords to designate outdoor smoking areas for tenants.

California has been the most aggressive anti-smoking state in the nation and it’s paid off with our smoking rate dropping significantly. We’re the second-lowest smoking state behind Utah. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reviewed academic studies showing these kinds of laws encourage people to stop smoking and they discourage young people from starting.

Both are good things.

Still, a measure like this makes me feel uneasy and it’s not simply because I live in a dwelling that would be affected by this law. It seems too Big Brotherish. There’s something uncomfortable about the government telling us what we can and cannot do in our own homes. It’s that same feeling that many homeowners who live in homeowners associations feel about being told what to do.

But if a landlord can ban smoking, then surely the state can. After all, there is no constitutional right to smoke. And when weighing the rights of smokers vs. nonsmokers, it becomes clear that someone’s right to breathe fresh air in their home trumps someone’s desire to smoke. Peace.

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ADDITIONAL NOTES: I've always been opposed to these laws. It had nothing to do with the fact that I used to smoke cigars. I'd always thought that banning smoking in bars was crazy. The booze bone is connected to the smoke bone. Some communities have banned smoking in parks. Hello? You're outside! The smoking ban in cars with kids I thought was an overreach. Were we really going to have police out looking for smoking drivers? I'm not a fan of nanny laws. I thought Bloomberg's soda law was stupid.

So this was something I really had to think about and look at. And in the end I had to set aside what I felt on a gut level: that people are kings of their castle. And in the final analysis I had to pit someone's right to fresh air in their home vs. someone's 'right' to smoke and if their smoke is infiltrating someone else's home, then the smoker loses. Right now if I'm blasting loud music disturbing my neighbors the onus is on ME to correct it. We don't tell the neighbors to wear earplugs. I have to turn my music down. And with smoking we're talking about something that negatively impacts someone's health.

No one says people can't smoke. They can smoke in their car (without kids). They can go to designated smoking areas outside their apartment. They can go for a walk and smoke. Or they can quit smoking. No one has to smoke. The law may need some tweaking. Maybe 85% of multi-unit housing should be smokefree. Maybe landlords should have to provide a designated smoking area (instead of suggesting they do). Maybe duplexes should be exempted. I don't know. I just know that in the past I rejected the idea out of hand but now, especially seeing polls that showed an overwhelming number of renters want to live in a smokefree environment and reading stories about people with asthma and other respiratory conditions trapped in their apartments and condos by smoke. In a perfect world, neighbors should be able to work these things out without there needing to be a law. It's just courtesy. But unfortunately, there are those who won't comply without some kind of penalty.

I read an article on one of the first communities to ever impose a residential ban and it's actually worked out well. They've never had to issue a citation. Smokers have complied with the law. They just adjust their habits in the same way we adjusted to not being able to smoke in stores, bars and restaurants. You change the way you operate. And if it's too much of a hassle, you try your best to just quit. Fresh air wins.