Smokers in Spain savored the last hours in which they could legally light up in public places before a tough new law took effect yesterday, as anti-smoking campaigners rejoiced.
As of yesterday, it is illegal to light up in bars, restaurants and cafes under the new legislation.
Spain has had an anti-smoking law since January 2006. It banned smoking in the workplace, on public transport and in shops, but had been less restrictive than similar legislation in many European countries.
It allowed owners of bars, restaurants and cafes to decide whether to ban smoking or not. Most, faced with a drop in business, naturally chose to permit their customers to light up.
The new law now means Spain, a country with a strong cafe culture where many consider a cigarette along with a drink and some tapas in their local bar as an inalienable right, will have one of the strictest anti-smoking laws in Europe.
Asked what he thought of the new measures, Esteban Calderon Torres, a 59-year-old lawyer and long-time smoker, put his index finger to his temple and made the sound of gun going off.
“It’s stupid,” he said as he enjoyed a cigarette and red wine in a crowded bar in central Madrid.
However, Jose Munez, a 58-year-old businessman and non-smoker, described the new law as “very civilized.”
“It’s good for the health of people in general, for workers, for waiters,” he said in a smokey Madrid sandwich bar.
He predicted many “will protest,” but “people in Spain slowly adjust to new laws.”
Anti-smoking campaigners are predictably overjoyed.
“This year, 2011, I can say the Three Wise Men have brought a great gift for Spain: the publication of this new law,” said Jose Luis Diaz-Maroto Munoz, a family doctor and expert on the effects of smoking.
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