Smoking and vaping have been prohibited at all 28 of Santa Maria’s parks since 2016, thanks to a citywide ban. Some local officials are hoping to extend that ban to all outdoor public spaces within city limits.
The Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Commission is currently working with the City Attorney’s Office to draft a proposal for new restrictions on public tobacco and marijuana use, based on a recommendation from the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department.
The proposed ban would cover outdoor service and dining areas, public event areas, and any other outdoor spaces in Santa Maria that city officials deem applicable, Eva Avila, a county health education associate and Santa Maria resident, said during the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Commission’s Nov. 8 meeting.
“Does anybody remember this image?” Avila said, while pointing to a still frame from the animated children’s show Tom and Jerry that depicts Tom the cat smoking a cigar.
“We used to have commercials and cartoons that depicted smoking. … We’ve come a long way in the tobacco policy world,” Avila explained. “But cannabis is new, it’s new territory.”
Avila co-hosted the presentation with Dawnette Kingsley-Smith, programs director with Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley, who vouched for the proposed ordinance as a way to help denormalize cannabis use for youth, and reduce smoking cannabis outdoors in general
Kingsley-Smith believes that many people underestimate the effects of secondhand marijuana smoke, while assuming it’s less harmful than secondhand tobacco smoke.
“The myths around the health of cannabis use are just ridiculous. … I think it’s our job as community members to educate our youth but also to create a space where this is denormalized,” Kingsley-Smith said. “We are seeing a huge decrease in perception of harm. So why is this happening? This is happening because they’re seeing it being normalized; everybody’s doing it. Not only are they seeing it on social media, but they’re seeing it in their community.”
If the proposed restrictions move forward and get approved by the Santa Maria City Council, Avila said that the county’s Tobacco Prevention and Cannabis Education Office is willing to fund new signage for the city to use.
Avila’s slideshow at the Nov. 8 meeting included a sample sign which states that secondhand marijuana smoke “contains many of the same cancer-causing substances and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke, including three times the amount of ammonia” and “significant levels of mercury, lead, formaldehyde, benzene, hydrogen cyanide, and toluene.”
“No smoking” signs posted at Santa Maria’s city-owned parks, which currently list “tobacco use” and “electronic cigarettes” as prohibited, would also be updated to name drop marijuana specifically.
In April, the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department surveyed Santa Maria’s 28 parks and found “minimal tobacco waste,” Avila said.
“What we know is that signage works, media works. … Our community wants to work on this, I think that they respect the rules and the laws,” Avila said. “If we get the word out there, people will follow.”
This article appears in Nov 17-24, 2022.
