Boston Bans Cigarette Sales In Drug Stores, force cigar bars to close over time

[The Straight Story]

Boston Bans Cigarette Sales In Drug Stores
CBS Evening News: Beantown Widens Its Effort To Get Its Residents To Kick The Habit; Now Taking Aim At Cigar Bars


(CBS) Boston will become the nation’s second city to ban the sale of cigarettes by pharmacies on Monday, as new rules approved by the city’s public health commission take effect.

The regulations passed by the commission two months ago also ban colleges from selling tobacco products on campus and will force smoking bars to shut their doors within a decade, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.

“In 10 years, all smoking bars in Boston should be gone,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the commission’s executive director, tells CBS News.

There are only 11 left, and the city vows not to license any more. Health officials are especially perturbed at the emergence of half a dozen of hookah bars, which cater to college students and young adults.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/08/eveningnews/main4784060.shtml

[ixion]

1. This is exactly why I've always opposed smoking bans, other than that

I find them inhuman and ridiculous.

Anti-smoking fanatics will never have enough. Every time a ban passes, they'll start whining for the next one.

[Warpy]

2. It's still a legal product

and as long as it's not being smoked indoors around unwilling people, it should be legal to sell it anywhere.

I'm also against outdoor smoking bans, although people shouldn't have to run a gauntlet of smokers to get into places like hospitals.

This is from somebody who gets very sick around someone smoking indoors. If I'm willing to accommodate smokers, they have to be willing to accommodate me.

[ixion]

5. I'm always willing to seek a compromise...

it's ultimatums that I find difficult to stomach.

I totally understand that there are people who don't want to be around smoke, all I ask is for mutual respect.

[jmowreader]

3. Expect a lot of Boston-area pharmacies to go out of business

They don't sell cigarettes because they're good for you, they sell them because there's a LOT of profit in them.

[Bryn]

4. I am looking into e-cigarettes

and will order a pair next week, then start vaping instead of smoking (what you see..looks like smoke, but is vapor). There are plenty of forums (discussion boards) for e-cigarettes. Even people vaping still have a problem since they look like real cigarettes and real smoke. Anti-smoking people will never have enough. I've seen anti-smoking people cheer on pot. I don't use pot, don't like smell of pot, but don't care if people enjoy it or for their health benefits.

[TahitiNut]

6. Stupid and short-sighted.

Pharmacies sell controlled substances, alcohol, and tobacco products -- far more reliably than other retailers because their staff are far more attuned to checking ID and exercising the controls and safeguards. It's idiotic to ban the sale of LEGAL goods under the pressure from asshole tobacco jihadists.

[Bryn]

7. Agree with you

E-cigarettes are now a rage which are healthier, no smell, no smoke, just vapor, no bad chemicals, yet people using e-cigarettes still have a problem with those anti-smoking lobby. They've got that one-eyed self righteous approach, and the fanatical zeal to ruin everyone's fun.

I wish they'd get over their holier-than-thou non-smoker attitude for smokers and e-cigarette vapors.