she is very motivated — And still firing.
The city’s most outspoken smoker’s rights activist has turned to “civil disobedience” and smokes homemade cigarettes to keep money out of the government’s hands now that tobacco control is the norm. .
“Would I be better off doing something else with my time? Yes, but I have to be firm. That’s my position,” he said during a recent visit to his home in Marine Park. said Audrey Silk of the Post, exhaling the first of several cigarettes she had just smoked.
“I don’t give them my tax money. No, I don’t,” she added. “They’re using that money against me. They’re using it to fund anti-smoking ads.”
Mr. Silk, a former NYPD officer who worked in the 67th Precinct during the height of the crack epidemic in the 1980s, became a smoker in the early 2000s when a citywide smoking ban began to be enforced under former Mayor Mike Bloomberg. began campaigning for the rights of first semester.
“Oh, I hated that guy,” Silk told the Post as he toiled in his backyard, where he grew tobacco in large pots. Her dislike of the former mayor was the motivation, and it became a belief that is used to this day.
“I still think, ‘Fuck you, Bloomberg.’ Fuck you, Bloomberg, shut me up and let me carry on.”
She now calls her backyard “Damn it, Michael Bloomberg Gardens.” Here, she grows tobacco in 100 five-gallon buckets filled with soil.
New York City first banned smoking in most restaurants in 1995, but in 2002 Bloomberg banned smoking in bars, ushering in a new era of smoke-free laws. As of 2024, smoking is prohibited in most public places in the city, including all parks.
Silk believes the ban is an attack on personal freedom and an outrageous government overreach, which led her to start the advocacy group Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harsment (CLASH).
“It’s a legal product. This country was born because of tobacco farmers,” she said.
“The government has no rights. ‘Oh, we’ll protect your health.’ By making you what?” Do you eat spinach? It’s the same concept. ”
Through CLASH (which reportedly has about 2,000 members), Silk attended public hearings on smoking laws, organized rallies, wrote letters in newspapers, and sued the Department of Housing and Urban Development over smoking bans in public housing. Ta. She also ran for a third term as a Libertarian against her nemesis, Bloomberg.
“When it comes to smokers’ rights, it doesn’t matter how old you are, how long you smoke, or how much you smoke. You should just be left alone to smoke if you feel like it,” she said, adding that she claims He added that there is an important difference between smoking and encouraging smoking.
“Promoting smoking means encouraging smoking. We do not encourage it or discourage it. It is the right of those who choose to smoke. It doesn’t promote it,” she said.
“I defend people who smoke one cigarette a month.”
Silk is currently focusing his energy on raising Nicotiana tabacum, a valuable crop.
“It’s just like growing any other plant. You buy seeds and start making trays in your house. Once the leaves are about the size of a dime, you transplant them,” she said. “It takes about a month to go from tray to cup. And another month from cup to bucket. It matures around August.
“When the leaves turn from a beautiful dark green to yellow, they are ready to harvest.”
“I do it leaf by leaf,” she said, explaining how she picks leaves from the stem and hangs them to dry and cure.
Silk said he used to smoke Parliament but quit about 10 years ago to grow and roll his own tobacco after Bloomberg raised tobacco taxes. It’s a small act of rebellion, but she feels such actions are the only weapon the smoker resistance has left.
“Smokers are gradualists. They fry us like frogs in a pot,” she said, criticizing the “kangaroo court” hearings surrounding “preordained” anti-smoking laws. He explained that he had almost given up on the organizational efforts up until now. .
“I can no longer logically understand the irrational, so the only way to bring about change is civil disobedience,” she said. Good people do not obey bad laws. ridiculous.
“It’s just smoking in the park and ignoring the policy as much as possible. Grow your own tobacco to avoid taxes,” Silk said, adding that he doesn’t smoke near “no smoking” signs in parks or airports. He added that he also enjoys smoking.
“It’s definitely rebellious. I look at my fellow smokers and I’m like, ‘Yeah, you too?'”
Further exasperating and perplexing Silk is the willingness of lawmakers to legalize cannabis-infused gummies and candy-like products while cracking down on menthol cigarettes and flavored nicotine. — Not to mention the marijuana smoke that seems to have replaced the smell of cigarettes all over the city.
“The roles have been reversed. Cannabis smokers are now cigarette smokers, and we’re trying to take it back as weed smokers.
“I’m not actively fighting anymore,” she said. “As I said earlier, I can’t logically understand irrational things.”
Silk is not afraid of the health risks associated with smoking, saying he would rather live a long and happy life than struggle.
“Quantity is good, but I’m not going to give up quality for quantity,” she said. “I accept the risk.”
But Silk has no plans to stop smoking, even if it kills him.
“There have already been instructions to bury him with a carton of cigarettes when he turns 100.”
