Amerikanen pikken anti-rookbeleid steeds minder
Artikelen als dit verschijnen er steeds meer in de media, maar ook de weerstand tegen nieuwe pogingen om algemene rookverboden in steden of staten in te stellen krijgen steeds meer verzet te verwerken.
In dit artikel in de OpinionJournal vraagt de columnist zich af hoe het staat met de sociale kant van de Democratische Partij als deze hoofdverantwoordelijke voor het Amerikaanse anti-rookbeleid steeds meer rokende mede-Amerikanen de kou in stuurt.
I saw them again the other day, shivering in the cold, in the rain, without jackets or coats. The looked out, expressionless, as the great world,
busy and purposeful, hurried by on the street. They were lined up along the wall of a business office. At their feet were a small mountain of cigarette butts and litter.
They are the punished, the shamed. They are the Smokers. As they stood there–I imagined a wreath of smoke curling round their shoulders like the wooden collar of the stocks of the 17th century–I thought: Why don’t we stop this?
In New York wordt een beslissing over de omstreden anti-rookwet, een prestigezaak voor de nieuwe burgemeester, hoogstwaarschijnlijk uitgesteld:
City officials said yesterday that lawmakers would almost certainly not vote today on Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to ban smoking in all public spaces in New York, meaning the measure might be overshadowed by the budget
issue. Mr. Bloomberg views the smoking bill as the most important piece of municipal legislation he has sought since taking office, and he had hoped to
have the bill wrapped up by the Great American Smokeout on Nov. 21. But passage is now considered highly unlikely by that date, as the bill will now take a back seat to the intensifying budget negotiations taking place between the mayor’s staff and the City Council (New York Times).
Het zit de burgemeester goed tegen. Er hangt hem een rechtszaak boven het hoofd, aangespannen door de tabakswinkeliers die hun inkomen met sprongen achteruit zagen gaan na een gigantische belastingverhoging dit jaar:
Branding the recent cigarette tax hikes an unconstitutional sham that is failing to produce promised additional revenues, tobacco wholesalers will file a lawsuit today to eliminate the increase. The suit, to be filed in Manhattan Supreme Court by the state Association of Tobacco and Candy Wholesalers, said the state and city will lose more than $200 million in taxes this fiscal year. The reason, court papers say, is that smokers are buying on the black market or on the Internet to evade the increases (New York Post).
