D.C. Council Considers Additional Smoking Restrictions

Sidewalk smokers, beware: The D.C. Council might be coming after you.

And people who buy cheap cigars -- whether for legal or illegal purposes -- you, too, should be on guard.

Three years after the council approved a ban on smoking indoors at bars and restaurants, the council is now considering a proposal to give business owners the right to ban smoking within 25 feet of the front door of an establishment.

The legislation, which also makes it a crime for anyone younger than 18 to possess tobacco, represents another step in the District's efforts to curb smoking.

"I think it is reasonable to say to a proprietor you can put up no smoking signs if you've got a problem with people standing on the sidewalk in front of your establishment," said council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), a sponsor of the bill.

In addition to Mendelson's bill, council member Yvette D. Alexander (D-Ward 7) is proposing to ban the sale of single, cheap cigars, which she says are increasingly being used to roll marijuana.

"I am killing two birds with one stone," Alexander said. "To make them unattainable to young people and, let's face it, a lot of young people are using them to smoke marijuana."

At a hearing Tuesday before the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, supporters and opponents of both measures faced off over how far the District should go in controlling tobacco and drug use.

Mendelson, the chairman of the committee, said he wants to discourage young adults from taking up smoking while protecting non-smokers from the effects of secondhand smoke.

Several advocates for health organizations, including the American Lung Association, testified in support of Mendelson's bill. Altria, the parent company of Richmond-based Philip Morris, also announced its support for the legislation, even though it would be the city's first effort to allow restrictions on smoking in outdoor public spaces.

"It doesn't go far enough," said Bob Summersgill of Smokefree DC. "In California, they don't allow smoking on beaches and [in] public parks, and I would love to see that here, even though we don't have that as a goal."

But Joan Jackson, smoking in front of an office building on Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday, said she thinks the council is "going a little overboard."