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# Santa Monica Smoking is a right
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/santa-monica-smoking-is-a-right-editor/
- Published: 2004-03-15T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:01:53.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Pier, #archive-import

The health nazis are at it again. In the name of everyone’s health, (namely their perceived health), a group of people, (Re: City Council cronies), have decided that the parks being smoke free is not enough. Now they want to make the pier and beach smoke free. Sounds good at first. Until you realize that what they are really talking about is a smoker’s civil rights. In an enclosed building, no smoking? OK. I can live with that. Out on the beach, in the open air? You want to tell me no smoking? Sorry, you’re out of line. The parks were closed to smokers yet they pay taxes to run those parks. Yet, no areas in the parks were set aside for smokers. People with dogs get their own area to run and folic with their dogs and they are not charged anything extra for this “right?” Their pollution is far worse than a little smoke. The health nazis cite “incidents” of fires on piers as the reason for no smoking. One only has to look for the official reports on the Redondo Pier and Santa Barbara Pier fire and surprise — they started in restaurants in the kitchens. So, when the City Council gets its rubber stamped report from the Pier Restoration Corp. saying that smoking should be banned and the council says “amen!” I will be the first to invite anyone who would like to join me in telling the City Council not so fast. Give smokers a section of the beach and the pier, and there will be no problem. Fail to, and the lawsuits will follow. By the way, surprise, I am not a smoker. Just a believer in civil rights.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 15, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031504.pdf?ref=smdp.com)