Sometimes Justin Hegarty savors his cigars by himself, and sometimes he enjoys them in a cigar bar with friends. "Either way, it's relaxing," said Hegarty, soon after an afternoon smoke at Churchill's cigar lounge.
Hegarty may need to find a new city where he can wind down with his cherished stogies.
The Boston Public Health Commission is scheduled to vote soon on expanded smoking restrictions that would be among the nation's toughest. The proposal would ban cigar bars and hookah bars, which currently enjoy exemptions from Boston's four-year-old workplace smoking ban. It would also eliminate sales of tobacco in pharmacies and on college campuses.
The commission gave preliminary approval to the rules in September, and is scheduled for a final vote Thursday.
Boston would be the largest city, by far, to outlaw smoking bars. Hegarty was baffled about what the city hoped to accomplish and said it seemed almost unconstitutional.
"The framers would err on the side of freedom when it comes to issues like this," Hegarty said. "People are free to enter (cigar bars) or not enter."
Roger Swartz, director of the community initiatives bureau at the Boston Public Health Commission, said the dangers of tobacco are so great, significant steps are needed to protect public health.
"Regulations based on data are not done just to kind of hassle people," he said. "For a product like tobacco ... even if someone was doing it voluntarily, there is no safe exposure level."
Right now, there are no state bans on smoking bars; 52 communities nationwide have bans that include private clubs and cigar bars, according to Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. Fort Wayne, Ind., is among the largest communities with such a ban, and smaller cities in Massachusetts such as Pittsfield and Lynn also have it.
But a ban in Boston could have "a ripple effect" around the country because of the size and influence of the city, said Chris McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association. The ban would not go into effect for five years.
The proposed ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies is not as unique in big cities; a similar ban went into effect in San Francisco in October, despite a pending court challenge.
Bill Rennie, vice president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, which represents pharmacies, said prohibiting the sale of tobacco products there is unfair because nearby competing business could still sell them.
"It's not eliminating the sale of tobacco by any means," he said. "It's just picking winners and losers in terms of who's allowed to sell it and who isn't."
But Margaret LaCroix of the American Lung Association said a tobacco ban is common sense in pharmacies, which by nature sell health products, because "we know that (tobacco) kills."
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This is a clear example of too much government control...
"For a product like tobacco ... even if someone was doing it voluntarily, there is no safe exposure level."
The same can be said for alcohol and the sun...I guess the government should ban tanning salons, beaches, bars and our ability to drink a beer after a long day of work?
I think not.
Ugh, that is horrid.
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