Rookverboden VS ontmoeten veel lijdzaam verzet
De meest recente staten in de VS die rookverboden hebben ingevoerd, Delaware, New York and Florida, zien zich steeds meer geconfronteerd met weerstand van de bevolking. Het draagvlak voor deze verboden is blijkbaar niet zo groot als altijd door de anti’s wordt beweerd.
In Delaware is de rookpolitie geheel in verwarring nu daar in veel café’s en restaurants zogenaamde Herbal Cigarettes worden verkocht en gerookt. De sigaretten zijn op het oog niet van normale tabaksigaretten te onderscheiden: ze ruiken hetzelfde en er komt dezelfde soort rook uit. De anti-rookwetten vermelden echter expliciet producten waarin tabak is verwerkt. Een bareigenaar kon op basis van het feit dat hij deze sigaretten verkocht, onder een stevige boete uitkomen.
The cigarette smoke that gathers like a curtain around Frank Infante would appear illegal. He is puffing away inside the bar he owns, and smoking tobacco at bars anywhere in Delaware is barred by state law.
State public health department officials already have fined Infante three times in five months after seeing patrons at Bull Dozers lighting up: $100 for the first offense, $250 for the second, $500 for the third.
“They can keep fining me, too,” he said. “They can’t prove a thing.”
He’s right. The Delaware officials who began mailing Infante citations in February never tested the cigarettes they saw his patrons smoking. This allowed Infante to claim the cigarettes were completely legal — like the one in his hand.
Coshocton Tribune (Delaware)
In New York is roken ook op de poppodia verboden. Ook daar zijn de Herbals de oplossing. De anti’s staan met lege handen.
According to the new act, effective July 24, 2003, the smoking of tobacco will not be permitted on the theatrical stage. Eileen Franko, Assistant Bureau Director for Community Environmental Health and Food Protection, told Playbill On-Line that there is an easy way to circumvent the new law.
Said Franko, “The law specifically says there’s no smoking of tobacco, so if you have to have a cigarette as a prop, you would just use herbal cigarettes, something with no tobacco.” She also explained that “New York City has a waiver for Broadway plays . . . However, that was before the state law kicked in, so we really supersede that now, so I would imagine that Broadway plays will also have to go to a non-tobacco product.”
PlayBill (New York)
In Florida, waar vorige maand een algeheel rookverbod inging, wordt onder andere door truckerscafé’s de wet volledig aan de laars gelapt, ondanks de hoge boetes die er op overtreding staan.
“If the government passed a law telling everyone to shoot themselves in the foot, would everyone shoot themselves in the foot? I doubt it,” John Saunders said. “If more people stand up to this thing, we could do something about it.”
Tampa Bay Tribune (Florida)
