The San Diego Traveler

Few Beaches Welcome Smokers

by Carole A. Lane on April 2nd, 2008

Encinitas recently joined the slew of San Diego cities banning smoking on their beaches. These now include:

• Chula Vista
• Coronado
• Del Mar
• El Cajon
• Encinitas
• Imperial Beach
• La Mesa
• National City
• Oceanside
• Poway
• San Diego
• Solana Beach

These smoking bans are due not only to concern for the effect of second-hand smoke, but the awful litter left by smokers.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems that second-hand smoke follows me around. I end up downwind of smokers at the beach, and worse yet, groups of cigar-smokers at concerts. (They actually have cigar vendor booths at outdoor events now!) I hate it, but more so when my kids are with me, forced to breathe this pollution into their growing lungs.

As for litter, if you’ve ever participated in a beach cleanup (yes, I have), it doesn’t take long before you realize that smokers treat the beach as their personal ashtray. There are more cigarette butts than any other type of trash being picked up!

Just imagine taking your darling child to the beach to build their first sand castle. They put their cute little sand toys to work, only to dig up one cigarette butt after another. Gross!

The chemicals from cigarettes leach into the sand and surf, exposing us all to additional pollutants. They trash one of our most treasured San Diego assets just as effectively as taggers ruin neighborhoods.

I don’t like taking away anyone else’s rights, and I believe that those who insist on killing themselves with cigarettes should have a reasonable place to do so. After all, it is still a legal vice, and only one of the many things we do that are bad for us, right? Neither do I really like the idea of police officers spending their valuable time ticketing smokers, when they could be addressing far more dangerous criminals.

Perhaps we should just build more smoking booths, like you see at some airports, segregating “them” from the rest of “us.” While we’re at it, why hasn’t anyone designed a convenient smoke-sucking ashtray that is attractive enough for smokers to actually carry around with them? That might make smokers less of the pariahs they’ve become here in San Diego.

If you’re a smoker looking for a beach where you can light up, head to a state beach such as Cardiff State Beach or South Carlsbad State Beach, but please, take your butts with you.

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POSTED IN: Agriculture & Nature, Health & Medicine, Recreation