Health Department to launch first-ever anti-hookah campaign
The New York City Health Department on Monday, May 21 announced the launch of its first-ever media campaign geared at educating New Yorkers on the risks of smoking hookah.
The launch comes on the heels of historic hookah legislation going into effect this year, which adds non-tobacco hookah to the Smoke Free Air Act of 2002, which banned indoor smoking of cigarettes and cigars, and governs the cleanliness of hookah paraphernalia while also prohibiting entry to hookah establishments for those under 21 as a means to de-normalize smoking citywide.
It greatly affects neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, where there is a large number of hookah bars and lounges along both of the nabe’s main commercial strips — many of them having seen their fair share of pushback. Much of the new hookah legislation was sponsored and heavily pushed by former Ridge Councilmember Vincent Gentile.