> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Up in smoke, up in arms - URL: https://www.smdp.com/up-in-smoke-up-in-arms/ - Published: 2006-03-25T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T17:23:39.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Opinion, Promenade, #archive-import This past week, Q-line asked: As part of the debate of whether officials in Calabasas were right in banning smoking in all public places, here are your responses to this week’s Q-Line question: “Has Santa Monica gone far enough to protect citizens from secondhand smoke, or has it already gone too far?” Here are your responses: ✆ “I think it has gone way overboard. I think the whole thing is stupid and such a joke, it’s ridiculous. You can’t smoke in parks. You can’t smoke in open air areas, at the beach. Where can you smoke? Everyone knows smoking is bad for you. People who have a problem with it are just weak. I think there should be a law against leafblowers, which make too much noise. Graffiti people should be caned. Those are things that mainly affect the community, not smoking a cigarette.” ✆ “I think Santa Monica has adequate bans against smoking in certain areas. I am a non-smoker and have always been terribly bothered by secondhand smoke. But I think we should be fair and reasonable, for now anyway. I do hope and pray though that smokers will see the light and get themselves weaned off this terrible, unhealthful, dirty habit and addiction.” ✆ “Former United States President James Earl Carter and Surgeon General Koop stated through research that at least 500,000 people each year in the United States of America expire prematurely due to the residual effects of using tobacco. When this number of deaths is compounded internationally, it capitulates into millions. And that is just the beginning. This horrific, deadly, bad habit drives the cost of Medicare and other forms of health insurance to skyrocket beyond the grasp of average Americans and proves to only be profitable to the tobacco companies, morticians, coffin makers and gravediggers. When smokers finally see the light and stop smoking, the life they save will be their own. Any method used by the city of Santa Monica to curb smoking is fine with me.” ✆ “Until the federal government outlaws smoking, Santa Monica should butt out.” ✆ “This is the most ridiculous case of government getting involved with private citizens. Do you know the amount of hydrocarbons that are produced by our cars everyday? I have a better suggestion. Let’s put cars in the same category as smokers. You cannot drive them because they produce 10 times the amount or more than smokers do and I don’t even believe the secondhand smoke ritual. Do you know what put an end to the Great Depression? It was not the end of the war, it was the repeal of the Volstead Act where government again tried to legislate morality by making drinking alcoholic beverages illegal. After it was repealed the government made millions and millions of dollars in taxes and the people spent millions and millions of dollars on their product. This is I would say probably unconstitutional but above that it is asinine. I don’t want to live in a country that has these stipulations, and believe me I am very happy in Costa Rica or Mexico or anywhere. This is the case of the minority trying to lead the majority. But personal preference goes out the window somewhere. This calls for a revolt, an absolute revolt. I hope you print this because all the small minded individuals that came up with this Calabasas plan ought to be exorcised from office. This is very, very degrading and seriously flawed and I would love to see them enforce it because no one is going to pay a fine and it will be a government revolt.” ✆ “Calabasas has the right idea. There’s too many smokers. It stinks, causes lung cancer, it’s bad enough. If they want to kill themselves with lung cancer fine, but when they start killing everybody else it’s gotta stop. They should be arrested or fined if they don’t put out the cigarettes. If there is nobody around to complain then maybe they can smoke but as soon as somebody complains then they have to put it out. Although smokers stink they don’t cause as much stink and mess as all the bums on Third Street and the rest of Santa Monica do.” ✆ “Santa Monica is doing positive things to protect people from the hazards of secondhand smoke. The next step should be to prohibit smoking in the city’s outdoor patio dining areas. Why should people have to go indoors to get a breath of fresh air?” ✆ “I don’t think Santa Monica has gone far enough to protect us from secondhand smoke. Other cities have taken bigger steps. It is known to be highly toxic and the city should make any crowded outdoor areas smoke free, outdoor dining areas, the Promenade, waiting in lines, wherever we are exposed to that poison.” ✆ “Way too far. There is something not only stupid but bordering on demented to set aside a dog park on the beach south of Wilshire which is probably the most crowded. At the same time prohibit a single smoker sitting in the hot sand away from the shoreline. Which is worse? A few cigarette butts on the beach or a lot of dog waste on the beach and in the ocean. Can’t we ask a smoker to put butts in a plastic bag and throw it in the trash? Only the most fanatic, Nazi, smoker police are at the bottom of this idiocy. Whenever the City Council wants to pretend they are working they declare another smoking ban.” ✆ “I personally appreciate what Santa Monica has already done to protect us non-smokers and provide residents with a cleaner, healthier environment. I don’t think though we have done enough. Especially now that we are hearing and seeing what other cities are doing. There is so much more the city of Santa Monica can do to protect us resi- *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 25, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)