PORTLAND, Maine — Flicking a cigarette butt into a Portland gutter can cost a person $100.
The City Council on Monday night unanimously passed an amendment to the litter ordinance clarifying that dropping cigarette butts on city property — including streets, sidewalks, parks, alleys and gutters — is littering and can be fined accordingly.
The move came about in response to concerns expressed by members of Portland’s Downtown District and its executive director, Jan Beitzer.
“She said the No. 1 complaint she gets from visitors and businesspeople is the prevalence of cigarette butts in the downtown,” Councilor John Anton told his fellow councilors Monday night.
Anton said studies have shown a third of all garbage nationally consists of cigarette butts, and pointed out that the city of San Francisco has put a 20-cent surcharge on each pack of cigarettes sold to cover the costs of cleanup.
One resident urged the council to vote against the ordinance amendment, as Nancy Page Akers described the move as a slippery slope toward a Big Brother-like future of secret police cameras watching smokers and DNA testing of discarded butts to chase down culprits.
Akers called the implementation of fines “heavy handed” and “government intimidation.”
Fellow Portland resident Robert Haines said he simply felt it would be hard to enforce.
“It’s a good intention and I like the idea, but as a practical matter, I think it would be impossible to make it work,” he told the council.
But others supported the littering clarification and asked that it be part of a more thorough anti-cigarette campaign. Roseanne Graef, head of the West End Neighborhood Association, said neighborhood groups should be included in the downtown’s plans to heighten awareness about proper cigarette butt disposal.
Councilors Anton and Ed Suslovic agreed that the fines, as an initial deterrent, would be part of a larger citywide effort.
“Simply passing an ordinance is not going to solve the problem,” Suslovic acknowledged. “But in my lifetime, littering of all kinds was considered acceptable. People used to throw trash out the windows of their cars. … My hope is, over time, just like we’ve seen positive trends with other types of litter, we’ll see a positive trend with cigarette butts as well.”
Should be a law everywhere…
Aren’t there already littering laws? Are they enforced?
Yes. It’s a 200.00 or more and is enforced especially on the highway. Don’t know about enforcement in the City of Bangor though.
I’m wonderfing when there’s going to be a Poor fine, Middle Class fine, or a Rich fine!!! :)
Just kiddin. Hope it’s the same for everyone now and always!
Last I checked littering is a law. As Joe said, it’s just not enforced in the case of Cigarette Butts. We’ve seen people do it our whole lives we’ve grown accustom to it.
I don’t mind if you smoke, but I find it strange that so many people throw them on the ground. I never understood why, but I’m not sure a fine is effective. I simply think having more awareness of the issue would help some people reconsider the impact of disposing them this way. It seems like a well intended step towards bettering our communities and keeping the Maine quality of life.
A bunch of people getting fined will raise awareness pretty quick.
A bunch of Occupy Portland were breaking laws and never got fined!
Slippery slope were practicing there right to assemble.
I disagree with your argument on the basis of bad grammar ;)
I think the people who throw cigarette butts out all over the place fully understand what they are doing. They simply do not care.
The world according to smokers:
Life is a cigarette and world is my ashtray.
I don’t think that’s fair. We see the rude ones, but there are many considerate smokers who, by their very nature of being considerate, are never noticed.
it was supposed to be funny.
cough. cough.
Good for you Portland…It should be a statewide law. Many times I have had butts hitting my windshield when driving down the road because the person in front of me wanted to throw their butt out the window. And, its a fire hazard…
OK – Bangor City Council – time for you to do the same.
And Rockland!
That would be awesome but I feel bad for one guy who works for the city. I see him get dropped off by the parking garage around 7am every weekday with a wheelbarrow, butt can and a litter pick up claw. Right now he does a lot of sidewalk salting but outside of winter he wanders the area picking up trash which keeps downtown looking litter free. We’ve actually joked in passing that if it weren’t for cigarette butts he’d be out of a job.
He would still have plenty to do without picking up someone else’s butt’s
It is a statewide law. Portland just wants to add it to their own ordinance for what ever reason.
By the looks around here – if it’s a “law”, it’s not working~~butts on the ground are very disgusting.
I caught one in my chest last summer while riding down Harlow St on my motorcycle. I saw the guy flick it and I didn’t realize it hit me until it started to burn a hole in my shirt and smoke up inside my helmet. I picked it off and pulled up beside him at the stop light by the old Post Office and flicked it back in his open window and said “I think you dropped something @$$#0!3!!”
I think this is called: Give and take – back.
It’s so irresponsible flicking a butt out the window!
That tells me you’re tailgating. Which is what people in Maine do best. Tell me I’m wrong, because I’m not!
One would’ve thought that the litter laws, if enforced would have covered this? Who thinks that dropping a cigarette butt isn’t littering? It is just not enforced. Will a new law be enforced?
This is one area where smokers could help their cause. In the military, we had to field strip them and put them in our pocket until we could dispose of them properly.
Just put the word out that the litter laws will be enforced & follow through, Regardless of the type of litter.
I voice my opinion all the time about the right smokers have to smoke. Singling them out for their bad habit while other bad habits are ignored or encouraged is hypocritical.
However, they don’t do themselves any favors by tossing lit butts out their windows or leaving their butts on the sidewalk or anywhere else.
If you took that stance then we can’t do anything because eventually everything is hypocritical.
Please give an example of a similar bad habit.
Eating at fast food restaurants. The cost to American society is in the billions for healthcare. Isn’t that the excuse they used to criminalize smoking? Heck, just the roadside trash is national embarrassment!
But, if I eat a Big Mac, I don’t force you to eat a Big Mac, too. When you smoke around me, you make me smoke, too. That’s the rub. Smoking is the only “bad habit” where, if done in public, directly subjects others to it’s adverse effects. Peripherally, yes, other bad habits set off a chain of events that lead to higher healthcare costs, etc., but only smoking DIRECTLY and irreversibly effects the health of those of us who chose not to smoke.
At least with cans and bottles, there is a deposit and there are many people picking them up.
Probable for ciggarettes. So, I hope they pick their butts up toooo!
You don’t see much littering on Maine highways because of the $200.00 or so fine.
I live on a rural road and it is about 10 miles each way to a MacDonalds. Our street is littered with fast food trash. It’s horrible. Fully 95% is fast food trash and I’m not exaggerating.
Eating deep-fried food. Drinking sugary sodas. Having unsafe sex. Crossing the street where there is no crosswalk.
I will note, however, that you used the word “similar.”
None of those bad habits affect all the people in the same room or inside space as the smoker. One smoker lights up a cigarette in a room and everyone in the room inhales that smoke. Which of the bad habits you provided cause all people around them to be effected?
political ambitions!
It’s true that second hand smoke can be an issue, but in many places ALL
smoking and chewing EVERYWHERE is banned. Smoking in your car sitting
in the parking lot doesn’t hurt anyone else. Chewing tobacco anywhere
doesn’t hurt anyone else.
However, the little whiffs of second hand smoke that one might encounter
doesn’t compare to the mass volumes of odorless poisonous gasses we are
exposed to daily on the roads and in the parking lots.
Don’t forget, too, that many people have a beef with us being able to
consume what we want because that “taxpayer” supposedly ultimately ends
up paying for our foolhardy choices.
Most of these policies are not so much to protect other from our behavior but to protect US from ourselves.
Little whiffs of secondhand smoke? Give me a break! I grew up in a house where both my parents smoked. I can still remember to this day being small enough to be below the ‘smoke line’ where I could see the border between clean air and the rest of the room filled with second hand smoke. It is one of my earliest memories. I also remember having to ride in a car filled with ‘little whiffs’ of second hand smoke when we went anywhere in a car.
‘Little whiffs of secondhand smoke’ tells me all I have to know about your feelings for non smokers.
As for chewing tobacco, feel free to chew as much as you want. I neither care nor did I say anything about chew. Good luck when they remove your tongue, vocal cords or your jaw from cancer, though.
And taxpayers do ultimately end up paying more for the healthcare of an individual who smokes because smokers tend to be poorer and less educated than non smokers thus we have to help with the medical costs of their cancers thru Medicare.
The top five caases for lung cancer in non smokers is Radon Exposure floowed by second hand smoke, asbestos, heredity and lastly polution.
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=53012
Thru policies set forth by the government, ie mandating Radon testing and detectors in buildings and increasing the cost of cigarettes are policies that are designed to lower the incidence of lung cancer in both smokers by lowering the number of smokers and non smokers by lowering their exposure to both Radon and second hand smoke.
We are talking about the real world today. No one is allowed to smoke inside most places, we are not talking about private homes, and there is already a law that covers children in private automobiles.
We are talking about people out in the open public spaces and, since there are NOWHERE near as many smokers today as there was 20 years ago, the chances of us being trapped in an open area where there are constant clouds of second-hand smoke are pretty small.
There are some tobacco bans that ban chewing tobacco as well as cigarette smoking, so it looks like you and I agree on that topic-that such a ban does not serve to protect people from second hand tobacco use.
It seems, though, that you agree that the government SHOULD regulate our behavior more because if we are to continue consuming what we want we’ll just be costing the taxpayers more? I am not sure that it’s true that smokers are poorer and less educated than non-smokers.
Your reference that discusses passive smoke mentions living with a smoker. Again, I am not talking about private homes. I am talking about being outside and occasionally being exposed to incredibly small amounts of second-hand cigarette smoke; certainly less of that than of car exhaust.
This article, by the way, states that “up to 3,000 lung cancer deaths are estimated to occur in the U.S. that are attributable to passive smoking.” My beef is the hypocrisy of these laws that come down hard on smokers when “In the United States…air pollution claims 70,000 lives annually.” http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2002/update17
I care about non-smokers, especially since I am one. I am glad that the air is cleaner in restaurants, supermarkets, banks, and other indoor areas where the public goes. But I don’t think it’s right to single out smokers for the ills of society like the governments do. “Breathe Easy, You’re In Maine” is a prime example of such propaganda. Stopping the few smokers in the state from smoking outside does nothing to make our air fresher.
I also believe in the “right to smoke”. I also believe in being responsible where you disgard that “right”.
Yes. It irks me greatly to see that red point of light flying out a car window and then exploding on the freeway. I really don’t know how this can be enforced.
What would be ideal is for people to police themselves. If you see someone you know litter in any way, butts or bottles, say something! I do. And it works.
Well, it’s about time.
good for Portland, now if only it will be enforced…..
What a stupid law
A stupid law for ingnorant people who treat the world as their ashtray.
Yawn.
How about enforcing existing laws? Or does other trash not matter and that from the evil, horrible, and vile smoker is the only trash we should be concerned about because they want to kill us all with their filthy habit?
I assume the anti-litter laws are being enforced. I trust that when a law enforcement officer sees a citizen littering that they will ticket them. I have seen littering tickets in the paper.
I hope so, I just wonder how they’ll be able to ticket the bad smokers.
Our un-articulate Gov. would say, “Don’t like the law? Kiss my butt.”
Already thought littering was against the law. Why do we have to waste money and time to make a new law we already have. Just enforce the ones we have. I guess when they are being paid with tax payer money they can waste as much as they want making new laws that alreadt exist.
you know they will not enforce it ,,it’s a feel good law . You can’t go around arresting ever one it would clog the courts up for years . They don’t even enforce the law that are on the books now .
A number of times you’ve mentioned, “arrest”. No one said anything about arresting anyone. They will be fined.
And, you do not need to fine everyone to increase compliance.
The degree of compliance is proportional to the likelihood of being fined.
If the police start handing out $100 fines, not all, but a sizable number of smokers, will start disposing of their butts in a responsible manner; something they should have been doing in the first place.
say they refuse to pay the fine than they go to jail
Yes, they should enforce the laws that already exist that cover littering.
The University of Maine created a policy that bans ALL tobacco from the campus. One of the reasons cited was that the existing 50-foot rule wasn’t working. It wasn’t working because they didn’t enforce it (they also kept the ashtrays near the doors).
Like the cigarette butt on the beach law (ban smoking because people leave their butts on the beach), there already ARE laws that address certain behaviors, but there is this constant crusade against smokers and other tobacco users, so there make laws that single them out.
Smokers that use the world as their ashtray feel like they are being singled out? Boo Hoo!
It’s an addiction, but it’s their addiction, not mine.
They want freedom of choice? How about I’ll stay out of their space, if they stop fouling mine. Keep their butts and second hand smoke to themselves
How about equal enforcement of the litter laws? I don’t like people using the world as their trashcan for their bottles, cans, papers, and plastic bags.
Why is some litter more bad than other litter?
A couple of things, First Smokers are grown ups, just because its not enforced doesn’t mean it isn’t the rule. They didn’t follow the rule, so they lost it. Plain and simple, don’t do it and you lose it. Smokers complain that they banned smoking, while not following the rules. Just because it wasn’t enforced means you don’t have to follow it? Last time I check we were all adults and didn’t need mommy or daddy to make sure we were doing what we should be doing. Also we are so lazy we have to smoke right next to the ashtray? A lot of them are placed under roofs so they don’t fill with water, are you lazy you can’t walk 50ft then walk back 50ft with a cigarette butt? You must only smoke near an ashtray?
Again, you are only noticing the rude smokers. Not everyone is the way you describe them.
Isn’t this law exactly like mommy and daddy making sure that rules are followed?
Is it so hard to put a smoker’s outpost at the 50-foot limit?
What makes you think this litter law will be enforced when current litter laws aren’t?
Unforturely they are the ones that everyone see and everyone judges the group by. I don’t see this as a mommy and daddy law, basically smokers knew the rule, didn’t follow it and ruined it for all. If smokers policed themselves I don’t think this would have been an issue. Is it hard for a smoker to walk back 50ft with a butt? I don’t mind if they are enforced, just the knowledge that someone can get a 100 dollar fine for throwing a butt on the ground its great.
Good for Portland. I grow very grumpy when I see the sides of roads, sidewalks, parking lots full of nasty butts which eventually end up in our water. I have no idea how they will enforce this, but I applaud them for taking a stand.
It should a be $250 State fine for each butt. Too many times I see people dumping their car ash trays in the street or a store parking lot. This would put a dent in the budget down fall.
Is former Maine state representative Brooks behind this? Did he leave Winterport for Portland?
Why make a law that’s almost impossible to enforce? For every 1 person you fine, hundreds will not be…it just makes no sense.
How do they enforce any law? People get away with speeding, running red lights-stop signs, shoplifting, assault, murder, child abuse, and the list goes on and on. No law is perfect but you have to start somewhere. Now if they would start enforcing the laws they have, you would see a slow change to comply with the laws. It all takes time to sway the way people think.
With that point of view, why have drug laws, or traffic laws or any other laws since you can’t catch everybody. Should we just erase all laws from the books because we can’t catch everybody?
I think most people agree that it’s ignorant to flick butts on the ground but this is a tough law to enforce. Like the cops don’t have enough to do? Now they are going to have the time to write tickets for this ??
It would be hard to enforce. Perhaps they should just making selling cigarettes against the law. We have outlawed thousands of products that were way less dangerous the cigarettes, yet because the government is dependent on the taxes it will never happen.
Instead of outlawing cigarettes, how about making them without filters. The filters are what everyone is complaining about.
People throw cigarette butts out car windows all the time. Any time a police officer sees it, just pull them over and give them a ticket. It would be easy to enforce….it just has to be enforced.
How about they have the welfare recipients go out everyday and pick up the trash and butts. Oh, wait, that would be demoralizing to them. We’ll just have to keep paying city and state employees to clean it all up.
That would be a smart idea… Instead they waste time and energy on another stupid law that will almost never be enforced
Stupid people sometimes need a stupid law to make them do the right thing.
What a load of judgmental nonsense.
Seriously? You don’t think it is ignorant that people have to be legally required to not litter? If they did the right thing to begin with, we would not need a law telling them what they already know.
Yes, but maybe I’m wrong, but the tone I see seems to imply that all smokers are stupid.
What do you think about enforcing the littering law that already exists?
I like enforcing the littering law that already exists and frankly I don’t know why cigarettes to not fall under existing anti-littering laws. Sorry about my tone. I know not all smokers litter and not all smokers smoke in public in undesignated areas. I really am directing my irritation at the smokers who do not practice common sense and common courtesy.
Well, I’m with you on that!! I really hate that and they make the law-abiding smokers look bad as well.
God forbid that you lose your job, than your home and car that you have worked so hard for and then watch your family falling apart from all this unfounded stress including yourself.
Than you fight so hard in not having to except help from DHHS etc. because you know that there is always goiing to be someone out there that is goiing to trash you for no fault of your own and have you picking up cigiarette butts because you are a disgrace in being poor…
You want to remember that when someone like yourself degrades others, it is usually because their self esteem is so low that degrading outhers makes you feel better. Well one you don’t know it all, and second why is it that you go around judging your neighbor because of the speck in his eye, when you walk around with a log in yours….Hypocrisy at it’s best….
I’ve never been on welfare but grew up around many people whose families were on it. I would go over to their houses and hang out and seldom would both of their Parents be home at the same time because they were usually at their second job WORKING to be able to pay the heating bills among others. I’m sure you will probably think that their job was walking the streets and selling drugs but sorry, that wasn’t the case. There are a lot of bad apples who abuse the system but we have it in our heads to look down on ALL people on the welfare system. Apparently though you “knowitall”, just like everyone else here.
If both parents were working two jobs I highly doubt they were on welfare. But thanks anyway.
What you suggest could also apply to Jail Inmates.
You are absolutely right. They are the biggest welfare recipients. Some jails actually do this. Others have community service programs. There needs to be a lot more of this type of paying your dept to society. Not just sitting in a cell and counting the days until you can get out and re-offend.
I agree, unfortunately someone will run with this and decide we should “PAY PEOPLE to pick up thrash in addition to their assistance.
People that throw trash are the bums. It’s their primary responsibility, not the municipality that would likely have to take on more liability and insurance to get it picked up, even for free. Litterers shouldn’t be encouraged to think that someone else is around to pick up after them.
When I was a smoker I tried to find places to put my cigarettes but it was hard. I agree it is littering and I am happy that communities are starting to address this but I also think more receptacles need to be created to avoid disposing of cigarette butts in trash cans and such that could cause fires.
Use your pocket as a receptacle.
So somebody else has to find a solution to the smoker’s issue?
Why should we supply receptacles for smokers? If you don’t have a place to discard your butt, then wait until you get home to smoke! For crying out loud, carry your own receptacle!
The hostility against smokers is ridiculous.
There are polite smokers out there and this reaction to Yadda_X3 is unwarranted.
A polite smoker would not discard their cigarette onto the ground. So even if a smoker makes his best effort to find a place to discard their cigarette, the ground should never be an option. If I was eating a Ho-Ho and could not find a receptacle to place the wrapper, I would not throw it on the ground, I would put it in my pocket or hold it until I could properly discard it. Sorry to Yadda_X3—-I didn’t mean to react so strongly, but this is a real pet peeve for me. I’ve had butts thrown out of car windows and bounce off my car. I’ve actually had one almost suck into my car window, so I’m sorry if I’m a little irritated that so many people do not see the value in this law.
For crying out loud. I think the taxes that the smokers pays in could fund a few receptacles.
I never understood why somebody could throw a cigarette butt somewhere (not that they care) and that wasn’t considered littering. I can’t believe the littering laws on the books wouldn’t cover this, but either way, people who throw their cigarette butts on the ground, out car windows really get to me. Littering in general does.
You can’t go around an arrest every one that breaks the law just think of the back log there would be in court ?
As someone who works to keep a business clean, cigarette butts are the worst enemy.
Not sure how successful they will be in enforcing this, but if it does work, it would be nice to see it everywhere.
I think it’s more for the police who are behind a moving car and witness them toss a cigarette butt out the window, now is a reason to pull them over. Then there is the possibility of finding more incriminating information after running their plates and drivers license. I doubt they will have the time to enforce this law upon someone walking down the sidewalk or in a store parking lot. But, it does give them a reason to initiate a traffic stop, and that makes sense to me.
Cigars, cigarettes, … duplicative statutes?
Raise your hand if you think this law will be enforced.
My hand is raised.
I sit in my office day after day looking at a parking lot and everyone that comes or goes probably assumes that their cigarette butt is the ONLY one to be heaved. Not so. I think this is great.
will occupy get billed for cigarette butts in the park ?
how about we just give portland back to it’s rightful owner.California ,let them deal with their lefty (butts).
That doesn’t even make sense. I thought Portland was part of Massachusetts, not California…
“One resident……. has delusions of persecution.”
I LOVE IT!!!
now outlaw hypodermic needles thrown on the ground, as well as plastic wrap from their bindles.
The “Number 1 Complaint”?? So they look past the drug deals, ladies/gentlemen of the moment, crumbling buildings, traffic, …. and they notice BUTTS ?? Strange people.
It’s easier to address this scourge of the smokers (especially with so few left) than to address the real issues.
That will just make them look before they flick.
Great, ty Portlnad, now the lovely city council we have in Bangor will think the same thing so they can make money.
Why do you smokers think you can just throw your cigarette butt on the ground and it shouldn’t bother anybody? I also think a stiffer fine should be imposed for smokers who throw their lit cigarette out of their moving car. Take care of your own trash like everyone else!
First of all, ty but i dont smoke, i was being sarcastic since we have a great city council that tries to make every last cent they can.
I LOVE THIS! I am a smoker and still nothing irks me more than someone littering…even a cigarette butt.Side note: It looks like one of those cigarette butts belonged to someone who swallowed a stick of lipstick…
Wait a second, so it is wrong for me to toss my cigarette butt on the sidewalk after you forced me to go outside to smoke? They had better put taxpayer funded ashtrays all over the city. Does the fine only apply to those who work for a living, like all of your other socialist programs? At least when I get cancer, I will still be able to bilk the taxpayers out of millions keeping me alive. Knowing that I won’t have to pay for my own medical expenses and that insurers can’t deny my coverage makes every cigarette more enjoyable!
Littering is littering. If I’m eating a Twinkie and I throw the wrapper on the sidewalk, I should be fined, too. Just because you are a smoker doesn’t mean you have to be a pig, too.
Exactly.
I guess some litter is more equal than others.
Good, this should be a national law… Or make the litterer swallow the butt…
Tobacco itself should be outlawed and should have been years ago. It is of no use to anyone. As recognition of their error in taxiung and condoning it the government should send these cigarette addicts to rehab and pay for it. We treat cigarettes as different to other drugs but they aren’t any different.
Good. Have you ever been stopped by gridlock traffic, while in the fast lane? Look at the edge of the median strip and see thousands of cig filters on the ground. Disgusting. Former Smoker.
Yes, that is nasty and most probably can be addressed by current laws.
The next time a cigarette comes from the car in front of me when I’m riding my motorcycle, I’m going to enforce my own law!
I’m a smoker who has put out my butts on the ground many times in the past. Looking back, it really was stupid for me to do so. From now on I’m going to put my butts in a ziplock bag (cause cigarette butts smell awful) and put them in my pocket, that is until I quit them altogether.
See? There are thoughtful smokers out there. I know many, also.
Not all smokers are the careless and selfish types they are made out to be in this forum.
“Anton said studies have shown a third of all garbage nationally consists of cigarette butts, and pointed out that the city of San Francisco has put a 20-cent surcharge on each pack of cigarettes sold to cover the costs of cleanup.”
I have no problem with a fine for littering. But both of these claims are totally rediculous. Seriously? 1/3 of all garbage consist of cigarette butts? So if I go around town and look in dumpsters I will find them 1/3 full of butts? Yeah, right. As far as the tax, does anyone think that the city is spending that much money picking up butts? I would bet that less than 1 cent of that goes to the trash collection effort.
thank you…you saved my from posting that same thing..1/3 hahaha
A friend of mine was behind a Car on his Motorcycle and the driver flicked a butt which found it’s way under my friends face shield on his helmet burning his beard…..It is a Person’s right to choose smoke but it is also their responsibility to dispose of those butts in a LEGAL manner. Responsibility doesn’t really fly these days though unfortunately.
Absolutely.
Why aren’t litter laws enforced NOW?
I agree with the concept here, but this law targets only smokers; as there are plenty of non-smokers who also litter. A better approach would be to just blanket fine whomever decides to litter at all…or better yet: enforce the current laws against littering.
No, the law targets people who litter. They simply added cigarette butts to the definition of littering.
Isn’t throwing a cigarette butt on the ground already littering, though?
That’s what I was wondering.
Smokers should put out their cigarettes in their car ashtrays. If the PC police have ordered car manufacturers to no longer include ashtrays in their new vehicles…then smokers should have some kind of receptacle in their car to put out their cigaret. Take an empty 2 pound coffee can….fill it 1/4 full of sand and set on the passenger side of the floor. Remember the good old days….when we put out our cigarets on the floors of the supermarket aisles ? Workers would come along with their wide brooms….cleaning it all up from aisle to aisle. As far as walking along the city streets while smoking…..businesses should accommodate their demands by placing outside containers designed for disposal of cigarets.
“But others supported the littering clarification and asked that it be part of a more thorough anti-cigarette campaign……………….”
If the State, Cities, Towns and the anti-cigarette people were really serious about stop smoking instead of
just doing ordinances and laws to collect fines.
Why not pass a State law that this is a “Smoke Free State” and have signs at every entrance stating this fact, there problem solved.
Well, when the Gestapo knock at your door because a neighbor is agitated at you and wants to send some trouble your way, tell me how that works out for you.
That sounds nice, but it won’t work. When there are so many cars, mills, and other forms of air-pollution, what does a “smoke-free” state really mean? It just says “intolerance” to me.
When they going to have fines in portland if you throw hyperdermic needles on the ground ? Well i can see new jobs being created here , the Butt Cops !
We have the smoker that tosses one at a time, but we also have the individual that saves 200 butts in his overflowing ash tray-THEN DUMPS THEM IN THE Hannaford PARKING LOT. I can’t decide which is more irritating.
When I was a little boy and I’d see those piles in the parking lot I thought that it was from a person, sitting in the car, and smoking that whole pile while waiting for someone else to finish the shopping!
It is stupid and should be addressed.
It’s about time!! Get the smokers who empty
their ashtrays in parking lots too. I hate that!
Our local hospital has “Smoke-Free Campus” signs all over the place. No smoking on the property, period! Not even in your car. Yet, the grounds are littered with cigarette butts! Who are these people who defy policy and smoke anyway? Is there something about a smoker’s mentality that’s makes them think the rules do not apply to them? Has the nicotine taken over all sense of reason and civility? Our anti-littering laws should be enough to deter them, but since many of them obviously think they are special, we have to pass laws to specifically single them out. NOTE: These remarks do not apply to smokers who follow the rules and discard their butts properly, only to those who do not.
I do think that such rules that ban smoking in one’s own car is over-reaching. Even chewing is banned in some places-why is this? I can only think that some parts of these rules are less about safety and more about being paternalistic and enforcing one’s views of how we should behave.
Really-who is harmed if one smokes in one’s car or one chews tobacco?
I guess because it is a hospital. Maybe because patients may come and go who are on oxygen which is highly flammable or if someone is severely asthmatic or sensitive to tobacco smoke it could cause a reaction. My understanding is that the reason is irrelevant. It is private property and whether it is health related or paternalistic, their rule should be respected and, in this case, it is not.
I AM THAT PERSON.
I Stay far away and downwind of others. I DO NOT throw my butts on the ground and I pay an ABSURD tax for the product that is ‘only LEGAL because it’s a great tax for the government to hit the poor with.
I do not believe smoker’s deserve rights but I do not believe they should be unreasonably harrased when making a good faith effort to be considerate of others.
Ya hate em that much demand that they be made illegal. (Which I would love to see but never will) Otherwise say THANK YOU for the billions put into the government coffers by those you hold in disdain.
Look at the research. Some claim that the smoker is costing billions in healthcare. The numbers aren’t far apart between what is taken in and what healthcare costs can actually be attributed to smoking.
In other words, that really isn’t a valid argument.
Ban Cigarettes or learn that favored phrase, “Tolerance”
FINALLY!!! I am so sick of seeing people flick buts out of cars & into gutters, it’s disgusting. Way to go Portland. This should have been an enforced littering law years ago. Now, if only the rest of the state…
For some reason I bet Cigars have been left out of the discussion.
Another great hypocrisy. Cigars are fine because they are more of an elitist thing and yet Cigarettes smokers are the scum of the earth.
Can’t we do anything in our country without the worry of political impact?
Our un-articulate Gov. would say, “Don’t like the law? Kiss my butt.”