You can’t smoke at Kotohiki Beach in Kyoto Prefecture, and someday you might not be able to smoke at Clam Beach, either. Photo: Wikimedia.

In the coming year, the Board of Supervisors may consider an ordinance that would ban smoking near entryways, at parks and beaches, and possibly even in apartments located in unincorporated Humboldt County.

The idea of creating an ordinance to protect people from secondhand smoke was recently discussed by the McKinleyville Municipal Advisory Committee, which decided to postpone taking a position until it had more time to receive public input. The committee will take up the matter at its next meeting Wednesday, Jan. 25.

Jay McCubbrey, project director of Tobacco Free Humboldt, explained to the committee the reasons for an ordinance and how the county compares to other jurisdictions when it comes to regulating secondhand smoke.

Arcata, Eureka, Blue Lake and Fortuna all have their own smoking ordinances, which limit where people can smoke. But unincorporated Humboldt County, which includes McKinleyville, Westhaven, Orick, Willow Creek and Cutten, do not have an ordinance. Smokers can be alive with pleasure in parks, on trails, at the beach, at outdoor worksites and while standing in line at ATMs or waiting at a bus stops. 

Tobacco Free Humboldt is advocating for what it calls a “model ordinance,” which would include maximum resistrictions, going as far as to prohibit smoking at common areas in apartment complexes, and even in the apartments themselves.

The issue hasn’t come before the Board of Supervisors yet, so it is not clear how far the proposed ordinance would go in protecting people from secondhand smoke.

McCubbrey said that smoking restrictions have proven to be effective in decreasing smoking rates, which thereby reduces emergency room visits and deaths.

McCubbrey noted that when he started his job about 20 years ago, about 25 percent of the people in California were smokers. That number is now down to 10 percent. In Humboldt, however, the rate is 17 percent.

“We’ve got our work to do up here,” he said.

Smoking is the nation’s leading preventable cause of death. Second-hand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death, McCubbrey told the committee.

The deaths result not just from long-term exposure, but even just people walking through a cloud of smoke. McCubbrey said that smoke can trigger heart attacks in people who have heart conditions.

Committee member Kevin Dreyer said that since this was the first time the committee had discussed the proposed ordinance, it should take some time to get public input. The matter will be discussed again on Jan. 25. The committee typically meets at 6 p.m.at the Azalea Conference Center located at the back of McKinleyville Middle School. However, sometimes the venue is changed depending on availability and expected public turnout. 

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Jack Durham is editor of the Mad River Union. Subscribe here.