Another Broad Outdoor Smoking Ban in the Works

The mayor of Calabasas (California) is apparently promoting a broad outdoor smoking ban. According to the local CBS affiliate: "The mayor of Calabasas is leading an effort to ban smoking outdoors in public places or where people might object. The city approved the framework of the ordinance, but its details have yet to be worked out."

The Rest of the Story

I have already commented extensively (post #1; post #2; post #3; post #4; post #5; post #6; post #7; post #8; post #9; post #10; post #11; post #12; post #13) on broad outdoor smoking bans, expressing my opposition to such policies when they include open, nonenclosed places where people are able to move freely about.

My only point here is to illustrate that these outdoor bans truly are spreading like wildfire. Ultimately, I think this is going to hurt legitimate efforts to protect workers from secondhand smoke because it is only a matter of time before the public and policy makers start to question the justification for these policies. And once it is clear that anti-smoking groups are promoting some policies that are not based on sound scientific evidence of unavoidable harm, then there is little to stop policy makers from assuming that all the policies we are promoting are in this category.