Fines for Smokers

the world is NOT your ashtray

Do you know what’s on every pristine beach in the world, on the street of every city, on the floor of every centuries-old world history site and in the stomachs of birds, turtles, etc.?

Cigarette butts — or, more accurately, cigarette filters, which are made of cellulose acetate, not cotton and, as such, they do not disintegrate.

Cigarette Butts: Collectively a Weapon of Mass Destruction
Groups such as the World Health Organization estimate that several trillion cigarette butts are thrown down worldwide every year; they are the most littered item in the world. Billions of cigarettes are flicked, one at a time, on our sidewalks, beaches, nature trails, gardens, and other public places every single day. Filters take years to decompose.

Filters collect the toxic chemicals released when the cigarette is smoked. Rains wash filters into our water sources where they leach for the rest of the world to “enjoy.” The nicotine trapped inside 200 used filters is sufficient to kill an adult human. (Cancer is on the rise. Is there a correlation?) Poison in our waterways is a deadly price to pay for the selfish habit of smoking.

In addition to ruining the most picturesque settings, littered butts start numerous fires every year around the world — fires that destroy people, animals, homes, and forests. (Some years ago, during a late-summer drive on Hwy 37 from Sonoma to Marin County, this writer saw a passenger flick his still-lit cigarette out the car window into the dry grass edging the highway. A fire started. Drivers immediately used cells to call the fire department and police; both responded quickly. The fire was extinguished, and the police caught up with and arrested the driver and passenger. Now that's an appropriate use of cellphones!)

Currently, cigarette activists propose rather moderate solutions, i.e.

Let your smoker friends, family, co-workers know how you feel. Direct them to a website such as CigaretteLitter.org for education/information. (CigaretteLitter.org also has an anonymous eMail feature.)
If you see someone litter, try to communicate your feelings to them in a non-confrontational way (which this writer thinks potentially dangerous).
Pick up their cigarette and dispose of it in front of them so that they get the message.
Write letters to local government, law enforcement, and fire safety officials asking for a more active role in the issue.
Call the 1-800 product hotlines of cigarette manufacturers and ask that they implement environmentally friendly packaging for their product.

Perhaps cigarettes are addictive and smoker's are to be pitied, but their seemingly innocuous flicking of filters is collectively proving to be a weapon of mass destruction. Given information disseminated during the past few decades, smokers know what they are doing. And given that the above measures have proved ineffective, it seems that more severe actions seem appropriate, i.e.

Abolish filtered cigarettes now! Pull all from the market and replace with non-filtered cigarettes. Filters are not necessary and some people actually prefer non-filtered cigarettes. If a non-filtered cigarette is thrown down, it will still pose problems, but it will disintegrate. Smokers will have health issues sooner, but why does that matter given the repercussions of their habit and that fact that smokers apparently don't care about their health or the health of anyone/anything else in the first place?
Include non-flammable pocket/purse liners for smokers with all purchased cigarettes; add the $2.00 cost to every package/carton and let the smokers carry their litter around until it can be disposed of properly. "Go Green Pocket Ashtray" is one brand quite readily available. (Perhaps this would be a great holiday gift for your smoker friends . . . if you have any smoker friends. This might help get the message across.)
Establish even heavier fines on cigarette companies. Use the funds specifically and only to hire full-time people for cleaning up the mess internationally and staff sites so that cigarette-flickers can be cited/fined on the spot, and/or ejected from the area immediately.

November 2008
Of course, I'm still on my non-smoker band wagon. I do not understand cigarette smokers. We have travelled the world through historical sites filled with ages-old artifacts and treasures. . . and cigarette butts. WHAT is the matter with these people? These world treasures took years to unearth and resurrect at great expense. Why do caretakers of valuable historical sites put up with half-smoked cigarettes dropped all around?

Stopover enroute to Chichen Itza.

During a mid-way stop to Chichen Itza, we talked with a lovely family from Guyana (yes, former territory of Jim Jones and The People's Temple). This family was sophisticated, well-dressed, obviously well-travelled, had beautiful daughters, and they all smoked. At this particular stop (photograph to the right), ashtrays were placed around the courtyard. What did these lovely people do? Dropped their butts on the ground enroute to the bus. Worse, the father of the group dropped is still-lit but into a live plant.

Still lit cigarette butt tossed into a living plant.

Still lit cigarette butt tossed into a living plant.

Where does the total disregard for all life begin and end? How does anyone manage to stay oblivious to the dangers of cigarettes to self, family, friends and our planet? I took the butt out of the plant and stuffed it out on the ground so the plant would not suffer. Does anyone remember the Russian book "The Secret Life of Plants?" I could not bear to think of the plant dealing with that burning heat at its base.

What about levying serious cigarette taxes (perhaps $5 per pack) to offset 1) medical expenses for children, and/or anyone else in the home, who have illnesses relating to their parents' smoking; 2) cleanup of all heritage sites, all beaches, all walkways . . . some of this is being done now, but it is being done by tax dollars. There is no reason on earth for taxpayers to pay for the sloppy habits of smokers; 3) Ban smoking at all historical sites, national parks, regional parks. 4) Cite people who hang their cigarattes out the window as they drive through dry-grass areas along freeways and country roads. This does start fires . . . we know this, we have seen this. Why is this allowed to continue? Why are people in cars behind subject to the smoke?