It should come as no surprise that a “community enforced” outdoor smoking ban at the University of Colorado at Boulder has gotten off to a rocky start.
And when routinely ignored, such bans have the potential to become largely symbolic — and a source of conflict between smokers and those who try to shame them into snuffing out cigarettes.
CU Boulder’s experience, described in a recent Daily Camera story, is a for those who want to enact an outdoor smoking ban on Denver’s 16th Street Mall.
While such a ban may appeal to those concerned about the health of smokers, there are a few key points to keep in mind.
First, smoking cigarettes is still a legal activity. Though it is a dirty habit that causes disease, individuals remain free to choose how to live their lives. And while secondhand smoke is definitely a health concern for non-smokers in indoor settings, that’s a far cry from an occasional whiff of cigarette smoke outdoors.
Second, the question of enforcement quickly moves to the fore. Who is going to stop smokers? Do we really want to add a no-smoking ban to the list of duties assigned to Denver police?
It’s one thing for communities whose police face relatively few challenges to expect officers to enforce smoking bans. But police in downtown Denver have enough on their hands without adding smoking ban enforcement.
And yet if not cops, then who?
As the CU experience demonstrates, expecting others in the community to informally enforce such a ban is asking for trouble.
“People don’t want to be told what to do,” a CU student government director the Camera. “It’s ‘Why is this kid coming to tell me this?’ I get called names. I get cussed at. It’s really hard to convince my fellow students to enforce this policy.”
Nearly 18 percent of American adults cigarettes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surely, some would like to quit. But ostracizing smokers and enacting hard-to-enforce bans is a strategy that is likely to cause more strife than success.
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