Hennepin County tries to quit the habit (no smoking on county property, even in own car)

[The Straight Story]

Hennepin County tries to quit the habit

The state's most populous county is considering banning tobacco use anywhere on county property, inside or out, as early as this summer.

For years smokers unable to light up inside the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis have found nicotine-charged relief outside on the broad red-brick sweep of Government Plaza.

Now the plaza could soon be off-limits too.

The County Board is considering banning all tobacco use anywhere on county grounds, inside and out, even if you're parked on county property in your own car.

The proposal came from Board Chair Mike Opat, who cited the litter and health effects of "an ugly and disgusting habit that visits itself on everybody else. It's time to take the next step and get on with it."

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/116540148.html

[Inuca]

1. That's idiotic

Fine people for littering, no problem there, but what I do inside my car is my own business, as long as I do not break any law. It does NOT "visit itself" on anybody else, unless they get in my car. Absurd.

[Submariner]

2. Free cigarettes at high school

one thing that got me hooked on cigs was that they were handed out free to us in high school (grades 8 to 12).

When we would go outside school at lunch break or to catch the bus home, tobacco company employees would give us 4-packs of any cigarette we wanted. I would get 2 or 3 packs a day of Camels or Luckies.

Maybe they should let us boomers die off with our ingrained addictions before dropping the hammer on everyone. This proposed plan is ridiculous.

[uppityperson]

3. Good grief. Next thing you know they'll try to ban drive through abortions.