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I'm not familiar with all 5 parks, but the ones right downtown are not family-friendly, and haven't been in a long time, and it's not primarily due to cigarette smokers or spice users. (Although, I understand the synthetic marijuana has been leading to overdoses and they are trying to curb that.) The parks are filled with homeless people and hard drug users at all hours of the day.
I saw a Union Leader article the other day in which they interviewed some of the people they found hanging out in the parks. They talked to one woman who was lying on a foam mattress on brick steps at the park center, who admitted to being a heroin user (and felt the police should be spending their time getting heroin off the streets.) And apparently there is a smaller park near the SHNU Arena which is not included in the ban, and which is already seeing an uptick in people visiting and using spice - and they're trashing this smaller park.
Also just to note the ban apparently includes all tobacco-related products including chewing tobacco and snuff, e-cigarettes, and dissolvable tobacco products. I'm curious why it is so broad. Maybe it needs to be to be allowable?
As a non-smoker, I think that all public parks should be free of tobacco products. A welcome side effect of this ban is having cleaner parks without cigarette butts littering the ground, better smelling, and probably discouraging the homeless from hanging out in them. It's a win-win-win situation for me.
Even though chewing tobacco is smoke-free, there's still that nasty spit product to deal with.
As to a slippery slope, aren't we trying to wean America and the world from becoming addicted to tobacco products? If we believe in climate change, why are we still in denial about the very negative health effects of consuming tobacco products?
As a non-smoker, I think that all public parks should be free of tobacco products. A welcome side effect of this ban is having cleaner parks without cigarette butts littering the ground, better smelling, and probably discouraging the homeless from hanging out in them. It's a win-win-win situation for me.
Even though chewing tobacco is smoke-free, there's still that nasty spit product to deal with.
As to a slippery slope, aren't we trying to wean America and the world from becoming addicted to tobacco products? If we believe in climate change, why are we still in denial about the very negative health effects of consuming tobacco products?
I'm a life-long non-smoker too, and I definitely agree with you in general. But this was apparently originally drafted by the police dept. as a measure to curb the use of spice. It doesn't even seem like the real intent is to curb tobacco use. One alderman hopes the police will use discretion in enforcing the ban since cigarettes are legal. They intentionally didn't have a broader ordinance because they didn't want to interfere with, say, someone smoking a cigar at the Derryfield Country Club (which is owned by the City of Manchester.) It seems like an ordinance pretending to be one thing with an entirely different intent. We'll see how it shakes out and if they broaden it and make it permanent.
We'll also see if it encourages the homeless to stop hanging out in the parks. I don't know where they would go (other than flocking to the parks without the ban.) (And I said I wasn't familiar with all 5, but it turns out I just wasn't familiar with them by name. This (unfortunately) was my neighborhood when I first moved here, and they're all filled with the homeless.) I wonder why they didn't impose the ban at the park near the SNHU Arena, which is also downtown and almost as large as the others... so that patrons of the SNHU could have a place to smoke?
As a non-smoker, I think that all public parks should be free of tobacco products. A welcome side effect of this ban is having cleaner parks without cigarette butts littering the ground, better smelling, and probably discouraging the homeless from hanging out in them. It's a win-win-win situation for me.
Even though chewing tobacco is smoke-free, there's still that nasty spit product to deal with.
As to a slippery slope, aren't we trying to wean America and the world from becoming addicted to tobacco products? If we believe in climate change, why are we still in denial about the very negative health effects of consuming tobacco products?
Want to rid Nh of something nasty..let's try booze. The second hand smoke bs is just that, but the effects of alcohol abuse are far reaching and much nastier than a few cigarette buts, rape, spousal abuse, joblessness, broken families, welfare..oh wait, there is that high profit margin isn't there..no dear were don't ban something legal simply because of our dislike for it, now do we?
Lebanon has also enacted a smoking ban but it's a joke. The smoking benches are within the park and other areas people have to walk by anyhow. Smoke drifts over to the "non smoking" part and people walk through smoking anyway. I haven't seen anyone ticketed for it.
Either ban things or don't. This answer is wishy washy at best.
I wonder how these bans are actually going to be enforced. Considering all the issues facing NH expecting the population to politely tell others "stop smoking" is insane and dangerous. And don't the police have real criminals to chase after?
Lebanon is on it's way to gentrification and attempting to turn Lebanon into a mini-Hanover (get rid of the poor and lower class by jacking up rents, chasing out smokers, and so on). It needs to get over itself.
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