Trending
On March 31, all Hale Mahaolu properties in Maui County become completely smoke-free. This means no smoking tobacco, medical marijuana, e-cigarettes, anything, anywhere -- inside apartments, outdoors, nowhere on the property is smoking allowed. Hawaii lawmakers need to emulate this pono Housing and Urban Development (HUD) directive, and act on the fact that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke or nicotine-laced vapors.
This incontrovertible scientific fact was a key reason for HUD's new policy. HUD first "grandfathered" in Hale Mahaolu smokers, but their smoking continued to detrimentally impact residents. That changed March 31, when anyone on Hale Mahaolu property who wants to smoke must leave the property entirely.
Hawaii lawmakers recently outlawed smoking in motor vehicles with kids inside. They need to apply similar stringent laws to fully safeguard all our citizens. Everyone benefits from strict anti-smoking laws, which should move incrementally toward banning smoking altogether.
Start by actually enforcing no-smoking laws in our parks and on beaches, where scofflaws poison the air for all other users. Mandate complete no-smoking policies -- including in parking lots and in cars -- in all new developments. Raise the smoking age from 21 to 24, then again to 27, then 30. Increase taxes on cigarettes semiannually and move to outlaw completely e-cigarettes, which should have never been legalized.
Maui can and will eventually become completely smoke-free when our lawmakers take seriously their sworn duty to protect citizens.
Jermone Kellner
Kahului