It is amazing that in the 21st century with all of the medical evidence that smoking is a major health risk and with a pack of cigarettes selling for more than a carton did 10 years ago that people continue to smoke. It is sadder still that thousands of teenagers in the New York area are ignoring the health warnings and are taking up smoking.
Nevertheless we have concerns with the possibility that Great Neck Plaza may soon join the Village of Great Neck by outlawing smoking on public sidewalks. We fear that Big Brother may be taking the war on tobacco a step too far.
Unless the advocates of this measure can produce evidence that the second-hand smoke poses a serious health risk to people passing by on the sidewalk, we don’t see how this ban can be justified. We would make an exception for places like Wild Ginger where bar and restaurant patrons sit at tables outside the restaurant to smoke. This is a logical extension of the ban on smoking inside the restaurant. And this does create a public nuisance.
In addition the sidewalk ban would be difficult to enforce. Police have more important concerns.
New laws may not be the best next step in the war on tobacco. The anti-tobacco lobby has done an incredible job in getting the message out that smoking is dangerous. The commercials they have produced are chilling. But otherwise intelligent people continue to smoke.
The time has come to target the retail outlets that continue to sell cigarettes. In particular the focus should be on the major pharmacies. Among others, Walgreens, CVS and Rite-Aid still cell cigarettes. In some of these stores the cigarettes are located right next to the various expensive products designed to help people quit. How hypocritical.
While offering flu shots and pledging their concern for your family’s health, they are selling a product that is proven to cause cancer, lung and heart disease and a host of other illnesses.
If they are willing to talk about it at all, the pharmacies will probably say that if they stop selling cigarettes their smoking customers will switch to a pharmacy that does. That’s not a justification for selling poison.
But if that is the reason, then these pharmacies should agree to joint pledge not to sell tobacco or any other product that will harm the health of their customers. Any store not willing to take the pledge will face a public-relations disaster.
A Blank Slate Media Editorial
