New year brings cigarette smoking ban on Miami Beach
MIAMI - With the new year comes some new rules, including a new cigarette smoking ban in Miami Beach.
If you're at the beach, leave your cigarettes at home or in the suitcase because it is now illegal to smoke them on the beach and at public parks.
"If you violate this new law, you get a $100 violation for the first offense, a $200 violation for the second offense, and our police even have the authority to arrest," said commissioner Alex Fernandez.
In the new ordinance, smoking is defined as "inhaling, exhaling, burning, carrying, or possessing any lighted tobacco product, including cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and any other lighted tobacco product with the exception of unfiltered cigars."
The city said the problem is the tiny plastic fibers in the cigarette butts that accumulate in fish and other wildlife, hurting seabirds, sea turtles, and more.
"Cigarette butts have microplastics and toxic chemicals that are bad for the environment and we want to prevent those from making their way into the sand," said Fernandez.
The marine nonprofit Ocean Conservancy said cigarette butts have been the most commonly recovered item during three decades of its annual International Coastal Cleanup. The butts affect humans when people consume fish that have ingested cigarette butts, Ocean Conservancy added.
With signs all over the beach, it's hard to miss that it's not allowed, something beachgoers are happy to hear.
"I think it's a phenomenal choice. I think that cigarettes should not be smoked publicly anyway. I think it's kind of annoying having a smell of cigarette smoke from somebody five feet away" said Xavion Gill.