Argenteuil: A tobacco-free space created in the garden of the Town Hall

Create the label Tobacco free zone In Argenteuil it is allowed, at first, to Denaturalization Activate smoking by reducing children’s exposure to secondhand smoke and also by reducing young people’s access to smoking. Secondly, this label encourages adults to quit smoking, ”the municipality argues. This incentive applies to all types of tobacco but also to vaping.

This is the label designed by the Cancer League and which began formalizing in 2006. To date, the number of tobacco-free places has reached 3,730 places in 48 departments. In addition to protecting children from secondhand smoke and encouraging them to quit, she points out that this can also help keep the environment from being polluted by cigarette butts.

Argenteuil Municipal Council indicates that it has been contacted by the Anti-Cancer League. “It is something that was written into the local health contract. We want to fight addictive practices,” says the mayor’s office. Partnership work has been carried out with the Anti-Cancer League. The municipal youth council has been asked to work out how to promote this space. A decree must be taken at the end of the next municipal council, Deliberation on the subject must be voted on. “It’s a label. There’s no fine. We depend on people’s goodwill. It’s more collaborative than oppressive,” explains the municipality.

Label, but not okay

In the garden of the town hall, the action looks rather good. Lily, cigarette in hand, agrees. I don’t mind. “I’ll go smoke somewhere else,” she says. She thinks it’s a positive for the kids and old people who frequent the park. On the next bench, a young man with a hat and sunglasses on his head is about to light up a joint. “It’s useless,” he said. He promises he will smoke elsewhere when a smoke-free zone is established.

“It’s a good thing,” says Zubaida, 50. “It’s good. But, anyway, you don’t see many people smoking here,” Jamuna comments. Nathalia, a 36-year-old mother, would like the municipality to go further. “No smoking, no alcohol. Sometimes there are people who speak badly. “They scare the kids,” she says. He happens to see people smoking in this park next to his children. “It’s not normal,” she says. Absorbed by Henri Bergson’s book, Denis, 22, doesn’t really like tobacco but doesn’t have an opinion.

City Hall Park should be the first step in a larger policy. The municipality intends to create other tobacco-free spaces. She is considering doing it in other parks in the city and in front of schools. He would thus join a small club from the cities in Val d’Oise that had already begun the process. In 2017, Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise implemented smoking bans in front of schools and in stadiums. In 2018, Sannois and Bernes-sur-Oise also created a tobacco-free space, joining Taverny the following year.