Poipu Beach Park is now a designated, tobacco-free facility.
Poipu Beach Park is now a designated, tobacco-free facility.
The Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii and community partners worked with Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and county Parks and Recreation Director Lenny Rapozo to prohibit tobacco use, including electronic smoking devices, in the park.
“Today we celebrate the health and wellness of our community as we work in partnership to promote a tobacco-free and smoke-free beach park here in Poipu,” Carvalho said Thursday. “This step is in the right direction for the general health of our community, and ensures a healthy future for all.”
No smoking stickers were posted on all county trash bins throughout the park, and county signs prohibiting smoking are also in the process of being installed.
Poipu Beach Park is the second county park designated as tobacco-free, joining Lydgate Beach Park.
“Common sense tells us that tobacco use has no place in an environment that offers playgrounds, pavilions for family gatherings and open fields,” said Valerie Saiki, Kauai coordinator for the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii. “Tobacco-free parks model healthy behaviors for our children.”
Tobacco free is a healthier way to enjoy our beaches and cleaner for everyone. Many smokers think of our beach sand as an ashtray, fine to stub out their cigarettes and then leave them there. Or they stub out and leave their cigarettes on the lawn.
I see this at Lydgate constantly and have never seen any signs stating it is a tobacco free beach. Let’s make sure no smoking signs are clearly visible at both beaches.