By Willie Burnley Jr., Staff Writer, Emerson College
When it comes to smokers, Downtown Boston has been something of a haven. Whether walking down the sidewalk, tucking themselves between obscure spaces on Boylston, or walking through the Garden or the Common, cigarette smokers have generally been able to indulge in their habit without too much concern for legal consequences. However, a new law proposed by Mayor Menino at the end of his term may change all of that.
On December 30th, 2013, the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved a ban on smoking in over 251 areas, such as cemeteries and parks, including the Boston Common and the Garden. The ban covers smoking cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, or “any lighted or vaporized” substances, and can be used to justify a fine up to $250. Given the powerful smoker culture at Emerson College, this could be a cause for concern.
Our school is socially known as a home for hipsters who puff by the pack and lean against Boylston buildings with cigarettes pinched between their fingertips. Whether nonsmokers like it or not, that is part of the Emerson culture. It’s not the only sign of the smoker culture on campus, though. Anyone who knows anything about drugs at Emerson knows that weed is not hard to find. You can walk in the Common, Garden, or even through the halls of your dorm at night, and stumble across people spreading that familiar fragrance. They’re so easy to find that one of these cannabis connoisseurs invited me to his room while he was high so that we could discuss the smoking ban. Maybe it was the mellow of the marijuana, but he actually was unworried that it would affect his outdoor smoking habits. However, he did find it unfair that cigarette smokers were targets. He wasn’t the only one, either.
“I think it’s bull,” says junior Writing, Literature, and Publishing major Rhianna Reinmuth, smoking a cigarette outside of the Colonial Theatre with her friend, of the same year and major, Kaleb Worst.
“‘Don’t smoke in the park because people are trying to enjoy the park,’” he mocks, “I’m trying to enjoy the park and I do that smoking a cigarette on a bench.” Worst is ticked off because he feels the law is a continuation of limiting the space where smokers are allowed to publicly smoke.
This limiting of space is part of the reason sophomore Post-Production major Jeff McHale, who is president of the drug-policy group Emerson Reform, thinks the ban is not actually targeting cigarette smokers. By his reasoning, limiting all these spaces would only leave sidewalks available for cigarette smokers, putting them in direct contact with nonsmokers. However, he does have an idea what it could be about.
“The bill was really made,” he argues, “because of the marijuana laws in Boston, because they need a way to patrol and enforce laws, but since smell is only a cause for searching someone for a criminal act, which marijuana isn’t in Boston… they need a new way to fine people without a way to search them.”
When it comes to smokers, Downtown Boston has been something of a haven. Whether walking down the sidewalk, tucking themselves between obscure spaces on Boylston, or walking through the Garden or the Common, cigarette smokers have generally been able to indulge in their habit without too much concern for legal consequences. However, a new law proposed by Mayor Menino at the end of his term may change all of that.
On December 30th, 2013, the Boston Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved a ban on smoking in over 251 areas, such as cemeteries and parks, including the Boston Common and the Garden. The ban covers smoking cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, or “any lighted or vaporized” substances, and can be used to justify a fine up to $250. Given the powerful smoker culture at Emerson College, this could be a cause for concern.
Our school is socially known as a home for hipsters who puff by the pack and lean against Boylston buildings with cigarettes pinched between their fingertips. Whether nonsmokers like it or not, that is part of the Emerson culture. It’s not the only sign of the smoker culture on campus, though. Anyone who knows anything about drugs at Emerson knows that weed is not hard to find. You can walk in the Common, Garden, or even through the halls of your dorm at night, and stumble across people spreading that familiar fragrance. They’re so easy to find that one of these cannabis connoisseurs invited me to his room while he was high so that we could discuss the smoking ban. Maybe it was the mellow of the marijuana, but he actually was unworried that it would affect his outdoor smoking habits. However, he did find it unfair that cigarette smokers were targets. He wasn’t the only one, either.
“I think it’s bull,” says junior Writing, Literature, and Publishing major Rhianna Reinmuth, smoking a cigarette outside of the Colonial Theatre with her friend, of the same year and major, Kaleb Worst.
“‘Don’t smoke in the park because people are trying to enjoy the park,’” he mocks, “I’m trying to enjoy the park and I do that smoking a cigarette on a bench.” Worst is ticked off because he feels the law is a continuation of limiting the space where smokers are allowed to publicly smoke.
This limiting of space is part of the reason sophomore Post-Production major Jeff McHale, who is president of the drug-policy group Emerson Reform, thinks the ban is not actually targeting cigarette smokers. By his reasoning, limiting all these spaces would only leave sidewalks available for cigarette smokers, putting them in direct contact with nonsmokers. However, he does have an idea what it could be about.
“The bill was really made,” he argues, “because of the marijuana laws in Boston, because they need a way to patrol and enforce laws, but since smell is only a cause for searching someone for a criminal act, which marijuana isn’t in Boston… they need a new way to fine people without a way to search them.”
In this way, the ban further criminalizes the decriminalized smoking of marijuana in places like the Common and the Garden. Additionally, it makes it illegal to smoke the substance even if you are certified as being allowed the now legal medical marijuana. If what McHale says is true, it represents Boston’s legislature trying to slow the forward momentum toward legalization. This may seem unlikely in a state as liberal as Massachusetts. On March 3rd, however, Californian Governor Jerry Brown warned that his blue state needed to be more alert “than some of the potheads might be able to put together.”
It’s uncertain as to if or when students will see the effects of the ban as they smoke outside. The Boston Parks and Recreation Department is initiating an ad campaign that will inform citizens of the ban so that they can spread the information through word of mouth, essentially making it citizen-enforced. That said, Boston PD and park rangers are authorized to patrol and issue fines once the law is in effect. Given that it should be a civil offense, I have heard that many student plan to give out false names in order to avoid tickets.
Willie Burnley Jr. is a feminist, anti-racist, and all around anti-oppressionist who believes that societal progress is almost always made through active effort. He likes politics and anime, though not always in that order. Follow him onTwitter.
Images: Corbis, Willie Burnley Jr.
It’s uncertain as to if or when students will see the effects of the ban as they smoke outside. The Boston Parks and Recreation Department is initiating an ad campaign that will inform citizens of the ban so that they can spread the information through word of mouth, essentially making it citizen-enforced. That said, Boston PD and park rangers are authorized to patrol and issue fines once the law is in effect. Given that it should be a civil offense, I have heard that many student plan to give out false names in order to avoid tickets.
Willie Burnley Jr. is a feminist, anti-racist, and all around anti-oppressionist who believes that societal progress is almost always made through active effort. He likes politics and anime, though not always in that order. Follow him onTwitter.
Images: Corbis, Willie Burnley Jr.