Smoking bans good for health but hard to enforce
Kristina Haney
In 2006, Arizona passed the Smoke Free Arizona Act, limiting the use of smoking products in public areas.
The act basically disallowed smoking in businesses that serve food, company owned vehicles and any other public areas used by smokers and non-smokers.
Since the ban, schools and other public places have tried to add designated smoking areas, or make their facilities completely smoke free.
ASU was the first college to attempt to add smoking only sections, but that was not until 2010. The student body originally wanted to have a ban, but the smoking zones were a compromise.
In 2012, Maricopa Community Colleges took their designated smoking sections away and made the campus completely smoke-free.
With the evolution of smoking laws, the area is blurred with the e-cigarettes and now with marijuana.
“Law enforcement has had issues with marijuana. They disagree with it being legalized because they are the ones that will have to deal with it,” said Jack McClaren, day shift on-campus officer.
E-cigs are considered to be a part of the “tobacco free” policy.
With the recent legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, authorities have another product they have to monitor for proper usage. “In Washington, so many people were smoking in public that the law enforcement left it alone,” McClaren said. “They can’t put everyone in jail.”
Marijuana can only be sold and grown by adults 21 and over, but public smoking of marijuana in Colorado is not allowed.
In the CO legislation it specifically states “Consumption of marijuana, provided that nothing in this section shall permit consumption that is conducted openly and publicly or in a manner that endangers others.”
New York City recently added e-cigarettes to the public smoking ban that was set in 2002. Since e-cigarettes can have the appearance of a true tobacco cigarette, patrons think that it is okay to smoke one inside.
“Marijuana will be legalized in Arizona eventually. A lot of legislatures are pounding the pavement to get it legalized. We just have to abide by what law enforcement decides.” McClaren said.
