Approximately a year ago a bill was passed in the Medicine Hat area to ban smoking in cars with minors.
Despite the unenforceable nature and laughable concept, the bill still managed to pass with supporters regarding it as a victory for the anti-smoking movement. To most people, the bill seemed to be an unrealistic move.
Now, a year later, a move far larger is being attempted.
A recent article in the Medicine Hat News states that parents are beginning to see the dangers of smoking through the amount of cigarette butt presence in public places.
The parent featured in the article stated that not only was his 18-month-old picking up discarded butts, but that a little girl had even gone so far as to put one in her mouth.
Now these parents are banding together to push city council for a ban on smoking in all parks, playgrounds, and other outdoor public spaces.
But is this entirely necessary? Does Alberta, or Medicine Hat in general, need to outlaw smoking one bylaw at a time?
Stats Canada states that on a daily basis, approximately 340,000 people in Alberta are exposed to second-hand smoke in vehicles or public places.
Although this number is down slightly from the year previous, some people still see the effects smokers leave behind.
What must be asked is, is such an infringement on other peoples’ rights and criminalizing a very common activity the correct steps to be taking.
It seems that many of the lobbyist’s in favour of the proponents of this suggested proposal are far more concerned with stopping people from smoking than they are in preventing the main issue; which just happens to be about the unsightly nature of cigarette butts and the possibility of children coming into contact with the remnants of smoking.
Instead of forcing people to comply with an anti-smoking ideology through legislation that criminalizes an otherwise common and relatively harmless act, maybe instead the public should look at other ways to fix the problem.
A letter was written to the editor of the Medicine Hat News giving a long-term solution.
The city of Yellowknife has a campaign running called “Bin the Butts”, where smell-proof cigarette bags are given out for free. These bags encourage smokers to use this bag when ashtrays are not around.
Ashtrays have been taken away from public areas in order to prevent smokers, but this is a harmful solution.
As the public has seen, cigarette butts litter the ground. Driving down the street a person can see at least one butt being tossed out the window.
Smokers are going to smoke, bylaw or not.
Maybe the non-smokers, and even the smokers themselves, need to encourage “harm reduction”.
The proper disposal of cigarette butts should be promoted, opposed to just downright banning all aspects of the simple act.