KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
For more than a decade, smoking has been banned at Los Angeles County-owned parks and beaches, and the ban may soon extend to e-cigarettes and marijuana. That includes many well-known parks in Santa Clarita.
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took the first step Tuesday toward banning e-cigarettes and marijuana in parks across the county.
Los Angeles County parks in or around the Santa Clarita Valley include:
- William S. Hart Regional Park
- Pico Canyon Park
- Dr. Richard H. Rioux Memorial Park
- Placerita Canyon Nature Center
- Jake Kuredjian Park
- Tesoro Adobe Historic Park
- Hasley Canyon Park
- Hasley Canyon Equestrian Center
- Castaic Sports Complex
- Castaic Lake State Recreation Area
- Del Valle Park
A motion co-authored by Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis highlights the use of e-cigarettes by teens as a growing public health concern.
Smoking marijuana in public is illegal statewide, but Kuehl and Solis suggested that including cannabis in county ordinances could cover loopholes that might otherwise arise.
During the meeting, the motion was approved without comment from the board, while community members spoke out in favor of it and complained about second-hand smoke and children’s exposure.
“There certainly will be people that will try it if they’re exposed to it, so the less we expose them, they’re not going to want to try it,” said Bob Sharits, program director at The Way Out Recovery SCV.
Tobacco shops sell flavors like bubble gum, cotton candy, apple juice and sour gummy worms, which has increased market growth among young smokers, according to a report by the U.S surgeon general.
One retail owner opposed the motion, saying that e-cigarettes help people stop smoking traditional cigarettes, which she deemed more hazardous to health.
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“Any smoke is going to be harmful if we’re exposed to it,” Sharits said.
The supervisors’ motion noted studies finding lower level of carcinogens in aerosol from e-cigarettes, but pointed out other harmful chemicals in the mix, including benzene and heavy metals.
Benzene, a component of gasoline, has been linked to a number of diseases, including leukemia. It is found in urban air because of industrial emissions and unburned gasoline in exhaust and fuel tank leakages, according to a study by the Portland State University.
It has been named the largest single cancer-risk ambient air toxin in the United States.
State laws which outlaw smoking in all enclosed public places were expanded to include e-cigarettes in 2016.
Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed bills that would have prohibited smoking at state parks and beaches.
“If people can’t smoke even on a deserted beach, where can they?” Brown said in a statement. “There must be some limit to the coercive power of government.”
The supervisors directed county lawyers to report back in 30 days with recommendations on adding both e-cigarettes and marijuana to countywide smoking bans, including the possibility of more closely regulating the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.
“I think it’s wonderful that it’s being motioned because it opens the discussion of whether or not it’s harmful,” Sharits said. “Any discussions we have on this is always a good thing.”
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WHAT! Cut barbeque smoke since it’s a known carcinogen. Gosh can’t drink, smoke or cook.
Oh get serious! I’m going to go to every Santa Clarita park there is now…and vape till I’m sick! Is this ever going to end? You know, I don’t care what you legislators do all day…Go clock in, grab yourself a cup of coffee, read your e-mail, take a nap for all I care…somebody’s gotta sit in that chair, it might as well be you. We’ll pay your ridiculous salary…just leave us alone! Go get a massage…just leave us the hell alone…You want your name on something so bad, fine we’ll give you a plaque in some park somewhere…maybe the same park I’ll be vaping in!
I vape CBD oil with citrus. I suppose this is covered by the cannabis loophole avoidance scheme from the busybodies in Sacramento, as mentioned above. There are no parks nearby anyway.
I am sometimes offended by the smell of flame broiling mammals. There are also issues of health effects and environmental degradation attendant to red meat. Let’s really clean up the parks!
Smoking is already banned in Santa Clarita Parks, but I went to the concert at Central Park people were smoking all over the place especially near the vender areas . the security did nothing.