Opinion: Lawmakers should allow smoke-free community parks and playgrounds

Publication Date: 2018-02-05

• Author:Editorial, Dr. Barry Hummel
• Publication:Tallahassee.com

...In 2002, Florida voters overwhelmingly voted to create smoke-free indoor workplaces. When the Legislature wrote the law to govern this, they added a clause that "expressly preempts regulation of smoking to the state and supersedes any municipal or county ordinance on the subject." In practical terms, this means the state dictates all smoking rules, indoors or outdoors.

As a result, cities and counties lost the right to restrict smoking in community parks, playgrounds and athletic fields. Apparently the rights of smokers supersede the rights of our children to breathe clean air in the places they play...