Bloomberg’s latest anti-smoking push would require stores to hide cigarettes

[onehandle]

Source: Yahoo News/The Ticket

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pushing for a new citywide law requiring stores to physically conceal cigarettes and other tobacco products behind counters, curtains or cabinets—anywhere out of public view—as part of a new anti-smoking initiative.

The legislation would also increase penalties on the smuggling and illegal sales of cigarettes as part of an effort that Bloomberg said would help curb the youth smoking rate and promote a healthier New York City.

“New York City has dramatically lowered our smoking rate, but even one new smoker is one too many—especially when it’s a young person,” Bloomberg said at a press conference on Monday. “Young people are targets of marketing and the availability of cigarettes, and this legislation will help prevent another generation from the ill health and shorter life expectancy that comes with smoking.”

The push comes just days after a judge overturned regulation backed by Bloomberg that would have limited the sales of large sugary drinks in New York City. Among other things, the judge in that case criticized Bloomberg for enacting the so-called “soda ban” by going through the city’s Health Department instead of the New York City Council.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/bloomberg-latest-anti-smoking-push-require-stores-hide-174231138--politics.html

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I've been to New York City several times in the last few months. Decades ago on my first visit, there were few places you could go, inside or outside, to avoid getting smoke blown in your face.

These days, I have walked around for hours, visited many restaurants and businesses, and barely see anyone smoking. A lot of places have signs telling people not to smoke near entrances. Heart attack rates are down significantly in NYC.

Good.

[jwirr]

1. The stores I have noticed in MN have cigs behind locked counters. Shoplifting is not unheard of.

[hrmjustin]

2. Bloomberg is going at the end of this year thank God.

I am not against this but I wonder if this is being done to get more money in fines.
But in the end i probably would vote for this bill because i detest smoking.

[Warpy]

3. Bar owners here screamed bloody murder

when smoking was banned in indoor public places, no exceptions. However, they're still in business and still doing well, so I imagine the sourpusses who stayed home so they could chainsmoke while getting plastered had their places at the bar taken by non smokers who never went out because they couldn't stand air so thick with cigarette smoke it was practically solid.

I'm one of those people. I never even went out to eat when there were smoking sections in restaurants, the heavy smoke always made me want to puke and that's not a good appetite stimulant. Now I go once in a while when I don't want to cook and it's great, I can taste the food unseasoned by exhaled Marlboro.

I doubt hiding the butts will cut down on smoking but they should already be behind the counter where kids can't steal them. I doubt the advertising has much of an effect on people unless they're already addicted and favor a particular brand.

I think if Bloomberg really tried, he could find better work to do. Once you've protected public health by improving indoor air quality, your job is pretty much done in that department. Anything else is likely to cause resentment and have the opposite effect.

[bobclark86]

4. A lot of places upstate did close...

Several drum and bugle corps relied on bingo operations. After the Clean Indoor Air Act passed, several corps folded because the old ladies wanted to smoke and play bingo.

There's still plenty of bars with smoking — They got waivers.

Around here (upstate), a lot of the Reality Check programs are asking village and town boards to pass similar bans on even seeing packaging (opaque storage containers and a nondescript binder for those showing ID to leaf through). Most board members politely smile and nod and then do nothing. A few point and laugh, though.

But at $9-10 a pack for Marlboros upstate, I don't see how anyone smokes here anymore. Even on the Rez they aren't that much cheaper.

[Warpy]

5. Holy shit, at those prices it's definitely time to breathe fresh air.

That's really what's taken care of the smoking rate and started to bring it way down from the peak in the 1950s, increasing taxes on them. Teenagers can't afford to start serious smoking and have to rely on the occasional butt stolen from Mom & Dad. Older folks can't afford to keep up a respectable 2 pack a day addiction. Everybody's cut down or quit.

Out here, they're more likely to chew the stuff than smoke the stuff. Taxes aren't that bad, I think they're somewhere around five bucks a pack here, chaw is cheaper.

And no, they're not that much cheaper on the rez, not with gas creeping back up toward four bucks a gallon. You'd spend the money on gas to save it on cigarettes.

[union_maid]

8. Down here we can do better at the Rez

Native brands as low as $15 for 200 cigarettes. Bloomberg doesn't like this either, but he's not Mayor of Long Island. Anyway, that's what I was paying until I switched to e-cigarettes. Ironically, those wil cost me more because I was getting the cigs so cheap. Well worth it, though, because I don't cough or wheeze anymore, I don't bother anyone with second hand smoke and all without even killing one family member while making a switch. I think that Bloomberg would like to ban the e-cigs, too. Just for the hell of it.

[Myrina]

6. Yes because putting things behind curtains and wrappers worked so well with porn ...

WTF? Has he lost his mind?

[SpartanDem]

7. Bloomberg wants to turn NYC into Utah

seriously there was a law, maybe it still is, that bars had to hide the alcohol lest those impressionable Mormons think about drinking. It was stupid and so is this, no one with an ounce of intelligence would support this law.

[jmowreader]

17. There still is that law

Liquor has to be stored and dispensed out of sight of customers.

[raidert05]

9. Meh..

So they make a law so you have to move them from one shelve to another out of site is there really an need to pass a law for this or could you just ask nicely?

[christx30]

10. Bloomberg

Doesn't ask. Bloomberg tells. He lives to control others. He views Demolition Man as an instruction manual. He is Raymond Cocteau. He wants to make as many things illegal as he can, so every one is breaking the law and paying fines at all times.

[graham4anything]

11. Wellness keeping people alive and living better in NYC.

I admire Mr. Bloomberg for his attempt to get rid of guns and make people healthy.

He actually put in from W42 to W47 on Broadway, a concrete beach, closing the street to all vehicles and it's now a pedestrian mall.

There are bike lines specific on many streets

It's the California Lifestyle in the Big Apple.

All states should do the same.

Cigarettes and obesity and guns kill.

[RILib]

12. can you imagine a world run by Bloomberg?

You'd have to get his permission to go to the bathroom.

Control freaks like this should never hold public office.

[Cha]

13. I know he endorsed Scott Brown over Elizabeth Warren.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

14. F.*.(k bloomberg.

Will this endless mayoralty ever end? IF he wants to be my daddy he'd better put me in his god damn will!

[obama2terms]

15. Seriously

He's starting to get on my nerves. Concealing cigarettes aren't going to make people quit smoking. Come on Bloomberg, quit being people's parents!

[former9thward]

16. I have heard the claim about heart attack rates going down before.

But no one seems to link to actual figures. This is from 2005: Death rates from heart disease in New York City and its suburbs are among the highest recorded in the country, and no one quite knows why.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/18/nyregion/18heart.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[onehandle]

19. How about an article 7 years newer: NYC Life Expectancy Is Seen Linked to Anti-Smoking Policy

New York City heart-disease deaths have dropped 28 percent since 2002, a decrease the Health Department attributes to bans on public smoking, cigarette taxes and ads depicting tobacco-related illnesses.

The statistics were contained in a report Mayor Michael Bloomberg released yesterday giving babies born in New York a record life expectancy of 80.6 years, three years more than in 2000 and above the national rate of 78.2 years. The report also showed AIDS fatalities have dropped faster than any other cause of death in the city.

“If you want to live longer and healthier than the average American, come to New York City,” Bloomberg said as he released the report. “By investing in health care and continuing to encourage more New Yorkers to take charge of their own health, we’ve experienced dramatic improvements in life expectancy.”

In September, the Health Department said the city’s adult smoking rate had reached a record low, with only 14 of 100 New Yorkers still smoking, a 35 percent decrease since 2002. Health officials said the decline would prevent 50,000 premature deaths in the next 40 years.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-04/nyc-life-expectancy-is-seen-linked-to-anti-smoking-policy.html

[former9thward]

29. Again no real numbers.

This is not a study, it is an article quoting random self selected statistics given by people who want to look good. I would rather see actual numbers by year in NYC compared with numbers by year in the U.S.

[onehandle]

30. It is a proven fact that smoking is a major contributing factor to early death.

To those who smoke, and those exposed to smoking.

Period.

[former9thward]

31. Fine make them illegal.

Government won't do that because it is addicted to the money they bring in, including Bloomberg.

[Little Star]

18. He is a control freak about everything. He needs to seek help for his control obsessions....

I've never seen any other Pol as obsessed with controlling things as him. He has a real problem, imo.

Signed, reformed smoker (gave it up after 35 or more years) (been smoke free for aprox 3 years now)

He's got some deep issues.

[Zoeisright]

33. Hit a nerve, huh?

[RILib]

36. Deep issues

I have an asthma-like lung condition and cigarette smoke is a major issue for me, but as long as people don't smoke in my vicinity, I don't care what they do about selling cigarettes. The latter is none of my business.

[WooWooWoo]

20. Bloomberg jumped the shark with the soda ban

anything he does from now on is just going to look obsessive.

[Ter]

21. In the normal country with common sense, he would be arrested by the police or US Martials

Crimes against the constitution and quasi dictatorships are illegal. Unfortunately, there are no normal countries with common sense.

[dipsydoodle]

22. That's already the case in the UK

Next up will be no labeling other than the health warning.

[RandiFan1290]

23. Teach people what recon tobacco is

That is what helped me quit that nasty shit.

Although, I fully support anyone that still chooses to smoke that crap.

ETA:

[davidthegnome]

24. Not surprising

I mean, if this was anyone else, I'd probably be a little surprised, or amused, or something.

I suspect that, if given the power, Bloomberg and his supporters would not be promoting legislation to reduce these things, rather, they would pass laws that would criminalize them all. Smoking would become criminal behavior, as would the consumption of large sugary drinks, or food that was "bad for you". They'd create a whole new black market, new waves of organized crime would suddenly exist merely for the sake of pushing sugary drinks, fast food and cigarettes.

Fuck Bloomberg. It's assholes like this that make people want to just keep smoking.

[christx30]

25. I kind of had that thought too..

I want to do something unhealthy and fun right in front of him just to piss him off. I want to see that impotent rage. I want him to see something that he has no hope of controlling. And I want every law that he tries to pass get shot down and burned.
And I want the image to be a lesson to all of the other would-be saviors of humanity that want to pull this kind of crap. People like him give so much ammo to the right and the anti-government people. Go fix a pot hole. Balance the damn budget. But leave me alone.

[Union Scribe]

26. I'm pretty solidly anti-smoking

and I approve of proposed increased penalties for smuggling. But what on earth is hiding cigarettes in stores going to accomplish? Are the smokers going to forget they're there, and thus quit by forgetfulness? Are non-smokers really tempted to start smoking by the physical presence of a pack in a store?

[onehandle]

27. The primary target of Big Tobacco is kids. Makes them seem less obtainable, if hidden.

The racks behind counters are designed to be seen by kids and adult smokers alike. Cigarette companies spend millions to promote their poison in many, many ways.

[The Straight Story]

28. Your body, his choice. Some people love others controlling their choices

Well, except one choice. Outside of that they hate the idea of choice.

[Zoeisright]

32. Sounds good to me.

Less shoplifting.

[Glassunion]

34. The only reason HE did this is because HE does not like smoking.

If HE smoked, this would never have happened. If HE enjoyed soda, HE would not have pushed his appointees to ban the sale of large beverages.

It's not about the people, it's about HIM.

HIS hypocracy should be ignored however. Remember HIS dislike of transfats, so HE banned NYC restaurants from using them back in '07? Yet, every year HE hosts probably the largest transfat orgy in the US. During this orgy of consumption that HE hosts, the top competitors consume up to 19,720 calories, 2,380 MG of cholesterol, 48,280 MG of sodium, 480 grams of saturated fat, and 34 grams of transfat... EACH!

HE assures us the HE will not raise the taxes on hot dogs... Because HE likes them.

I guess the transfats in hotdogs are the healty transfats.

[marshall]

35. How does one know if a store is selling cigarettes?

Do you have to just go from store to store, asking if somebody is selling cigarettes? Sounds like a new form of panhandling. Why not just ban the sale altogether.