Smoking Bans Are No Match for New Yorkers | 2011

Sep 15, 2011 | Smoking in bars and restaurants has been banned in New York City since 2003 but [the then] Mayor Michael Bloomberg added beaches, parks, and pedestrian plazas to the long and growing list of places where smoking is verboten in the Big Apple.

"Sin taxes" on cigarettes have driven the average price of a pack to more than $11. Yet in a city renowned for its innovation and drive, smokers have found ways to work around government attempts at social engineering. These include the booming "loosie" trade, where street entrepreneurs risk arrest to sell loose cigarettes for a dollar each on the streets of Manhattan; tobacco crops blooming in Brooklyn; and a thriving Soho bar/restaurant that survived the smoking ban thanks to an obscure grandfather clause.

With so much tax revenue being lost to the black market, and even the green market, perhaps it's time for a mayor who made billions in the free market to consider allowing business owners to set their own policies, and let the marketplace sort out the demand for smoking and smoke-free establishments.

Produced by Anthony L. Fisher.


Reformed smokers are usually the most intolerant of all. Michael Bloomberg is a reformed smoker. In fact, I once read that he was a very heavy smoker. Sixty cigarettes a day? Can’t find the article now. It has been taken down.

These days, Americans have a lot bigger things to worry about than smoking. These days, Americans have to worry about authoritarianism and their country turning into a dictatorship. I wonder what Mr Bloomberg can do about that? — © Mark Alexander

France Implements Smoking Ban at Beaches and Parks in Step towards ‘Tobacco-free Generation’

THE GUARDIAN: Under new rules anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park from Sunday will be breaking the law

Anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park in France will be breaking the law from Sunday under new rules aimed at protecting children from the dangers of passive smoking.

Bus shelters and areas in the immediate vicinity of libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which is coming into force one day after its publication in the official government gazette on Saturday.

The rule is being imposed one week before the beginning of the school holidays in France in a bid to immediately protect children from smoke on the beach.

However, to the disappointment of some anti-tobacco activists, the ban does not cover the terraces of bars and restaurants where many French still happily smoke.

They are also unhappy that the ban does not apply to electronic cigarettes. » | Agence France-Presse | Sunday, June 29, 2025

The fun-loving French, the very people from whom we have borrowed the term joie de vivre, have been turned into Puritans! As a fun holiday destination, France must surely be a country to avoid now. When I was a smoker, I used to love a drag on the beach! That was one of the highlights of my day out.

Over the years, people have complained bitterly of being ruled by men, they have complained of patriarchy. Now, because of the influence of women in politics, one would be forgiven for concluding that the system is being turned into a paedocracy!

Once upon a time, children had to fit in to an adults’ world; now, the opposite is the case: adults have to fit in to a children’s world.

France has just lost its allure. – © Mark Alexander

LIBÉRATION : Fumer à la plage, au parc, sous un Abribus ou près des écoles interdit dès ce dimanche : Le décret annoncé par le gouvernement pour étendre l’interdiction, avec l’objectif de protéger les enfants, est effectif à partir d’aujourd’hui. Les terrasses des cafés et restaurants, tout comme le vapotage, ne sont pas concernés. »

I’m a Doctor and I Think It’s Wrong to Ban Smoking outside Hospitals

THE TELEGRAPH: Addicts cannot simply quit as soon as they enter hospital and the activity gives them some much-needed relief

Labour’s plan to ban smoking on hospital grounds is the epitome of a top-down initiative by a nanny-state government. It’s a great example of politicians having an idea, without actually being involved in the practicalities. They don’t understand how hospitals work because they don’t work in hospitals. This solution is a poor sticking plaster to a nation-wide problem.

When it comes to hospitals, we have to be liberal about smoking out of sheer empathy for the patients – many of whom are at the end of their lives. There’s no doubt that smoking is bad for you, so I’m not suggesting that we should encourage people to do it. But for many patients it’s a lifeline – a practice that brings comfort and relief at times of deep distress.

We also cannot ignore the fact that smoking is first and foremost an addiction – you can’t just give it up when you are admitted to hospital. Walk into any hospital in the country, even in the height of winter when it’s freezing cold, and you will see patients standing outside the main entrance in pyjamas with drip stands and drugs, smoking. Some will be smoking as relief from the stress of the intense hospital environment, some will be socialising and enjoying time together and some will be relishing the feeling of a comforting habit that they’ve enjoyed all their lives. » | Karol Sikora * | Tuesday, November 5, 2024

* Prof Karol Sikora is a leading cancer specialist, who worked as a clinical director in the NHS for more than 25 years.

THE GUARDIAN:

Smoking to be banned outside schools and hospitals in England, but pubs get reprieve: Legislation also includes ban on advertising of vapes and restrictions on flavours, packaging and marketing »

Starmer’s Killjoy State

Sep 18, 2024 | Banning smoking in beer gardens. Banning ‘junk food’ advertising. Weighing people at work. The UK’s new Labour government is putting the ‘nanny state’ on steroids. Worst of all, it’s already committed to bringing in the total prohibition of cigarettes – a move that will upend our liberties and fuel the black market. Here, Tom Slater explains why this obsession with policing our lifestyles has nothing to do with public health and everything to do with pushing ordinary people around. This is about the ruling classes forcing their own miserable ways on the rest of us, while blithely ignoring the disastrous consequences of their authoritarianism.

One can but despise Starmer. This man is the closest leader this country has ever had to the man history knows as Der Führer!

Death to the Nanny State! Death to Starmer's authoritarian regime! – © Mark Alexander

“More and More Rubbish” | Keir Starmer Slammed over Nanny State Policies

Sep 13, 2024 | On Thursday, a written statement from health minister Andrew Gwynne said the Government would introduce a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising on TV and online, as well as a total ban on paid-for online ads. Head of lifestyle economics at IEA Chris Snowdon joins Talks Peter Cardwell to discuss this further.

Revealed: How Sunak Dropped Smoking Ban amid Lobbying from Tobacco Firms

THE GUARDIAN: Investigation details industry campaign including legal threats and charm offensive aimed at Tory MPs

Rishi Sunak abandoned his “legacy” policy to ban smoking for future generations amid a backlash from the tobacco industry in the form of legal threats, lobbying and a charm offensive aimed at Conservative MPs, an investigation reveals.

The UK had been on course to become the first country to ban smoking for future generations, via the tobacco and vaping bill, which Downing Street hoped would help define Sunak’s place in British political history.

An investigation by the Guardian and the Examination, a non-profit newsroom that investigates global health threats, has uncovered how the UK’s largest cigarette companies fought against the policy, which would have raised the smoking age by one year every year. » | Rob Davies and Matthew Chapman | Saturday, June 29, 2024

I should think so too! This draconian smoking ban would have been as undemocratic and illiberal as it would have been unworkable and unfair. It is not the business of government to interfere in an adult’s lifestyle choices. A government can and should inform of the dangers of smoking (or other lifestyle choice), but ultimately, it is up to the adult to decide. For heaven’s sake, stop this unrelenting war on smoking! Governments have far more important things to deal with. And in any case, people these days are up to far worse things than enjoying a few puffs on a cigarette. These days, people are into marijuana/cannabis, cocaine — London is the cocaine capital of the world — opioids, Ecstasy, and much else besides. And what about those awful, silly-looking, unhealthy vapes? New research is beginning to show that e-cigarettes are unhealthier than conventional cigarettes! By the way, just in case you think I am biased because I smoke. I am not! I am now a non-smoker and have been for more than two years. Moreover, even if I were still a smoker, this ban wouldn't affect me because of my age. However, I still think that such a ban is wrong. I will always defend the right of smokers. Why? Because I know how much pleasure I derived from smoking and because I know that if a government will be able to get away with such a ban, it won’t stop at smoking. Soon, other pleasures will be banned. Alcohol will surely be next. What comes after alcohol is anyone’s guess. In a few words: Stop interfering in people’s private lives; stop being so meddlesome! – © Mark Alexander

Guardian playing nanny yet again! Nanny simply will not stop trying to control us! »

Criminal Gangs Will Benefit!" Simon Clark HITS OUT At Rishi Sunak's New Smoking Regulations

Oct 5, 2023 | Simon Clark, director of pro-smoking group Forest, criticises Rishi Sunak's pledge to create a 'smoke-free generation.'

The Prime Minister has described his plan to increase the legal smoking age by one year annually as the “biggest public health intervention in a generation”. In his speech at the Conservative Party conference, Sunak said the legal age for buying tobacco should rise every year from 2009 to stop youngsters taking up smoking in a bid to “try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place”.

Clark says: "The only people who benefit from this are going to be the criminal gangs happy to sell cigarettes to children."


Chris Thomas is talking through his backside! Only Simon Clark spoke sense. It is an outrage that this unelected prime minister wants to take people's right to smoke away from them. If a young man is old enough to die for his country, he is old enough to smoke. End of story! – © Mark Alexander

Forest: Voice and friend of the smoker.

Smoking David Hockney Is a Truer Conservative than Killjoy Rishi Sunak

THE TELEGRAPH: Compulsory clean living isn’t what people vote Tory for. The party needs to rediscover the spirit of Churchill

If smoking has a bullish face, it is painter Sir David Hockney’s. From his farmstead in Normandy, the great man has surfaced to denounce Rishi Sunak’s proposal to ban the sale of cigarettes gradually. This, he says, “is just madness to me. I have smoked for 70 years. I started when I was 16 and I’m now 86 and I’m reasonably fine, thank you. I just love tobacco and I will go on smoking until I fall over.”

Here, I say, is the authentic Conservative spirit. This is a man who has taken on board the health warnings and decided to ignore them all. He has calculated the risks, set them against the benefits and decided that he’s going to carry on with smoking because he likes it and it helps him paint.

As he says defiantly, “Many artists have smoked. Picasso smoked and died at 91, Matisse smoked and died at 84 and Monet chain-smoked and died at 86. He smoked and painted at the same time. I can’t do that. I don’t smoke while I’m painting. I light a cigarette every 15 minutes when I stop to check what I’ve done … Why can’t Mr Sunak leave the smokers alone?” » | Melanie McDonagh | Sunday, October 8, 2023

Nigel Farage : Sunak's New Smoking Ban Is Anti-freedom! | #shorts

Listen to Nigel Farage speaking common sense on the proposed smoking ban here.
I never thought I would ever agree with Nigel Farage on anything. But on this, I do. BIG TIME! He has got this absolutely right. This proposed law is bonkers. It is also illiberal and anti-Conservative.

So, these young people are going to be old enough to get married, have children and be fathers; and, if we go to war, these young people will be expected to lay down their lives for their country, but they won't be able to enjoy a cigarette. They can be killed in combat, but they can’t enjoy a fag. That is bloody mad!

This country is becoming a dictatorship; it is no longer a democracy. It is also no longer the country I was born and raised in. I am disgusted by Sunak and his stupid, autocratic, poncy ideas. And this particular idea is the stupidest of them all.

Margaret Thatcher, even though she was not a smoker, would never have introduced such half-baked legislation. And to repeat her famous words to Mr Sunak: No! No! No! As Mr Farage has said in this short clip: Mr Sunak, get out of people’s lives! – © Mark Alexander

New Zealand Implements Smoking Ban | 10 News First

Dec 9, 2021 | New Zealand will implement new legislation to phase out smoking. The ban will see anyone born since 2009 unable to purchase cigarettes.

Jacinda Ardern has got tyrannical tendencies. The silly woman should be stopped. (I speak as an ex-smoker.) Apparently, Ardern used to enjoy cannabis! That says it all. – © Mark Alexander

New Zealand smoking rates fall to lowest on record, but vaping on the rise: Overall smoking rate falls to 8% as country pursues goal of becoming smoke-free by 2025, but many may be switching to vaping instead »

I’m all for New Zealand giving tobacco a kicking – but don’t criminalise smoking: Making substances illegal has never worked, simply because it fails to address the reasons why people use them »

Austrians Fear Smoking Ban Threat to Café Culture

BBC AMERICA: After years of debate, Austria's government has announced plans to introduce a total smoking ban in cafes and restaurants by 2018.

Anti-smoking groups say that is too long to wait, but there have been protests by some restaurant owners, who say their business will suffer.

Austrians like order, or "Ordnung" as they say in German. It is hugely frowned upon for a pedestrian to cross the road on a red light. And the streets and underground network of Vienna are kept remarkably clean.

But smoky air in cafes and restaurants has been widely tolerated for years.

Cafe culture

"Smoking is a sort of culture, especially in Austria," Margit Schwed told me as she sat in Cafe Ritter in Vienna, with its gilt chandeliers and marble table tops.

"In the typical Vienna Kaffeehaus you take your coffee and your cigarette. I think people like the flair in the coffee houses."

Austria has one of the highest rates of smoking in Europe, particularly among young people: 33% of Austrians smoke regularly, according to a 2012 Eurobarometer study. Only Greeks, Bulgarians and Latvians smoke more. (+ BBC video) » | Bethany Bell, BBC News, Vienna | Sunday, May 31, 2015

Russia: Smoking Ban Met With Skepticism

THE MOSCOW TIMES: The new anti-smoking law that came into force last week and is seen by the government as a measure to fight population decline has been met more with skepticism than strict implementation.

The measures that took effect on June 1 are the first phase in a large-scale program designed to change the public's attitude to smoking by imposing strict restrictions in public places and significantly increasing prices on tobacco products.

Many of the restrictions introduced last Saturday pertain to smoking in places where it has already been prohibited, such as on public transportation and in schools, museums and hospitals.

But now, added to that list are universities, sports facilities, stairwells of apartment buildings, municipal and office buildings, playgrounds, beaches, filling stations and any area within 15 meters of a metro entrance, as well as bus stops, train stations and airports.

The law, developed by the Health Ministry and signed in February by President Vladimir Putin, was designed to put a dent in the death rate caused by smoking and help boost a dwindling population. » | Yekaterina Kravtsova | Tuesday, June 05, 2013

Tasmania Considers Cigarette Ban for Anyone Born after 2000
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Australian state of Tasmania is considering a ban on cigarette sales to anyone born after the year 2000 in an attempt to create a smoking-free generation.

A week after Australia upheld its world-first laws plain packaging laws, Tasmania's upper house unanimously passed a motion to introduce the ban from 2018.

The measure was proposed by Ivan Dean, a Tasmanian independent MP, who said the ban would be easy to enforce because the state already has restrictions on sales of cigarettes to minors. It would be the world's first such age-based ban and is also reportedly being considered in Singapore and Finland.

Mr Dean, a former police officer and mayor, said the ban would prevent young people "from buying a product that they can't already buy" but would not affect adult smokers. "This would mean that we would have a generation of people not exposed to tobacco products," he said.

"It would be easier for retailers to enforce because when they ask for ID, all they would need to see if the person was born after the year 2000 ... As the generation reaches 18 years, there will be fewer of them smoking and while some of those first turning 18 might smoke, as time goes on fewer and fewer will."

The state government, which will now consider whether to back the proposal in the lower house, indicated support for the ban.

"Saying that those people who sell cigarettes legally cannot sell cigarettes to a certain age is appropriate," said Michelle O'Byrne, the state's health minister. "We do it now. What the smoke-free generation would say is that, potentially, anyone from the year 2000 would not be able to buy cigarettes ever, because every year, it would just get that little bit older." » | Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney | Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Gruselbilder: EU-Kommission will Rauchern Angst machen
FRANKFURTER RUNDSCHAU: Politiker in Brüssel wollen die Regeln für die Vermarktung von Zigaretten deutlich verschärfen. Vorbild könnte das australische Modell sein, das auf eine besonders drastische Methode setzt.

Die EU-Kommission plant die Regeln für die Vermarktung von Zigaretten noch einmal deutlich zu verschärfen. Das sagte am Donnerstag ein Sprecher von Gesundheits- und Verbraucherkommissar John Dalli der Frankfurter Rundschau. „Wir wollen Jugendliche noch stärker davor abschrecken, mit dem Rauchen anzufangen“, erklärte er. Die neuen Vorschriften wolle die EU-Kommission Ende Oktober oder Anfang November vorstellen.

Schon jetzt sickern einige der Ideen der Brüsseler Politiker durch. Von Gesundheitskommissar Dalli ist bekannt, dass er Sympathien für das rigorose australische Modell hegt: Dazu gehören Einheitspackungen für alle Zigarettenmarken mit gruseligen Abbildungen von missgebildeten Babys oder kranken Lungen. Zudem würden die Markenlogos von den Schachteln verschwinden.

Die Tabakkonzerne sind gegen diese Vorschriften vor das höchste australische Gericht, den High Court in Canberra, gezogen. Sie beklagen unter anderem, dass sie enteignet würden, wenn sie ihre Logos nicht mehr verwenden dürften, die sie mit Milliardeninvestitionen aufgebaut hätten. Dafür wollen sie entschädigt werden, was für Australien im Falle einer Niederlage teuer würde. » | Von Daniel Baumann | Freitag, 13. Juli 2012

RT.COM: Californian city extends smoking ban to include apartments: The ability to light up a cigarette in Santa Monica is about to go up in smoke for many residents of the coastal town outside of Los Angeles. The city’s board voted this week to soon impose a ban inside the homes of local tenants. » | Friday, July 13, 2012

Smoking Ban Splits Bulgarian Public
SOUTHEAST EUROPE TIMES.COM: A new law adopted by parliament in mid-May, extending Bulgaria's smoking ban to all indoor and some outdoor public areas, took effect on June 1st against the backdrop of a lingering war of words between the measure's opponents and supporters.

The move comes seven years after smoking was first disallowed in government buildings, schools, kindergartens, airports, public transport and taxis in Bulgaria.

Smoking is now also fully prohibited in cinemas, playgrounds, school courtyards, at open air events as well as restaurants, bars and cafes -- where, over the past seven years -- such facilities had to create separate sections for smokers in order to stay in business.

Patrons who wish to light up in between meals or drinks must now go outside or risk being fined 150 to 250 euros. Fines for owners -- or managers -- range from 2,500 euros for a first offence up to 5,000 euros for a repeat violation.

Nearly half of the 7.4 million Bulgarians smoke regularly, making the country the second heaviest-smoking nation within the EU after Greece. » | Svetla Dimitrova for Southeast European Times in Sofia | Saturday, June 16, 2012

Outdoor Smoking Ban Comes into Effect in New York But Smokers Remain Defiant

MAIL ONLINE: Tourists in New York might find that the air is that little bit fresher on their next visit to Central Park after a ban on outdoor smoking came into effect on Monday.

Smokers can no longer legally light up in the city's public parks, beaches and promenades. Pedestrian plazas are also no smoking zones, including the ones in Times Square and Herald Square.

But many smokers said they would flout the ban, despite the threat of a $50 fine.

People will be fined for lighting up in any New York parks - except the Roberto Clemente, Riverbank, Gantry Plaza, Empire-Fulton Ferry, East River, Bayswater Point, Clay Pit Ponds State Parks.

But some smokers on the streets of New York said it was worth risking the $50 penalty. Continue reading and comment » | Paul Bentley | Friday, May 27, 2011

My comment:

America is no longer 'The Land of the Free.' Wherever you go in the US today, there are restrictions. The US used to be a wonderful, fun country to go to. That's all changed now. Political correctness has taken over. Alas, this side of the Atlantic, we copy every ridiculous idea Americans come up with. We have no backbone to do our own thing, in our own way. To show a little tolerance is always a good thing. I am not a smoker. I am an ex-smoker. But when I gave up smoking a couple of years ago, I vowed that I would never allow myself to become a whinger. Bloomberg used to be a chain-smoker. But when he gave up, he became just that: a whinger!, He expected the rest of the world to give up because he did. Surely, if someone wants to enjoy a smoke, let that person do so. To worry about second-hand smoke in New York is about as sensible as worrying about snow on a skiing holiday in the Alps. In the Alps, you find snow; in a city like NY, you find pollution. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Pub Chiefs Send Smoke Signals to Government

EVENING TIMES: Pub bosses are starting a campaign to allow smoking in bars again, five years after it was banned.

The Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) claims that 800 pubs have gone out of business since the smoking ban was introduced in 2006 and argues Scotland has the toughest anti smoking legislation in Europe.

Scots publicans will meet today with landlords from countries where smoking in bars is still allowed.

Legislation is in place in some countries to protect staff and non-smoking customers from second-hand smoke.

Publicans will hear from bar owners from the Netherlands, Croatia and Hungary, where laws are in place that allows smoking but prevents involuntary exposure to smoke by staff and customers.

The SLTA’s Paul Waterson said they did not want to overturn the smoking ban, but wanted it changed to allow choice for drinkers and flexibility for pub owners.

He said: “We have invited operators from countries where there [are] more flexible law[s] on smoking.

“We think that after five years it is appropriate to revisit the smoking ban and see if there a solution that is sympathetic to both sides. » | Stewart Paterson | Tuesday, May 24, 2011

New York Adds Parks and Beaches to Smoking Ban
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: New York City has added the city's parks and beaches to the list of places where smoking is banned.

The ban, which officials hope will prevent problems caused by second-hand smoke, adds to the city's 2003 ban on cigarettes in bars and restaurants.

The new law will not be enforced by police but by some 200 parks personnel who watch over the city's 29,000 acres of park land and beaches. Violators face a $50 fine but officials say the ban is meant to be largely self-enforcing.

"We don't think that people should be exposed to those chemicals when they go to a park to enjoy the fresh air," city Health Commissioner Thomas Farley told Reuters. » | Tuesday, May 24, 2011

New York Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment »

China Introduces Smoking Ban – But with No Penalties
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: China has banned smoking in public places in an attempt to placate the World Health Organisation, however, there are no penalties for those who flout the rules.

China has the world's most serious smoking problem, and more than a million Chinese die each year from smoking related diseases, according to the China Centre for Disease Control.

The country's 300 million smokers are now banned from smoking in public places indoors, such as hotels, restaurants and bars. However, smoking in the office is still allowed.

The ban appears to have come in response to pressure from the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO), which castigated China for failing to comply with a global anti-tobacco treaty. The WHO has said China's decision to finally implement a ban is a "groundbreaking" move. » | Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai | Sunday, May 01, 2011

China to Ban Smoking at Indoor Public Places
REUTERS: China will ban smoking at all indoor public venues from May in an effort to shield the world's most populous nation, and its largest cigarette producer, from the harmful effects of the habit, the health ministry said.

China, which has more than 300 million smokers, will require businesses to display prominent no-smoking signs, forbid vending machines from selling cigarettes and ensure that designated outdoor smoking zones not affect pedestrian traffic, according to a ministry statement reported in Chinese media on Thursday.

Businesses should educate customers about the health hazards of smoking and workers should attempt to stop smokers from lighting up, the ministry said.

The ministry did not state specific penalties -- a sign that the new ban might not be rigorously enforced. Read on and comment » | Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Chris Lewis | BEIJING | Thursday, March 24, 2011