Local pol looks to regulate non-tobacco hookah smoke
New legislation introduced this morning would address a major “elephant in the room” when it comes to hookah, says one local pol.
Councilmember Vincent Gentile on Thursday, February 25 debuted a bill that, if signed into law, would include non-tobacco herbal shisha smoke under the guidelines of the landmark 2002 Smoke Free Air Act and fiercely regulate those hookah joints still allowed to operate.
“What we are faced with today is a long overdue look at an unregulated loophole in the SFAA: the smoke from non-tobacco shisha,” said Gentile at a public hearing of the City Council’s Committee for Public Health, citing non-tobacco hookah smoke’s effect on air quality and health as being just as bad, if not worse, than cigarette smoke. “Current law does not include non-tobacco shisha as part of the indoor ban, even though there is every reason it should.”