Supported by the University of Athens and Harvard University’s School of Public Health, Greece has finally put in place a ban on smoking in all public spaces. Restaurant and café owners are outraged and state that this will make the current economic crisis even more unbearable as customers will be driven away.
Gregory Connelly of Harvard University predicts that of the children today who are living in Greece, 350,000 will be killed before their time from smoking related illnesses unless action such as the smoking ban is put in place immediately. It is suggested by ASH, (a British Anti-smoking campaign group) that the benefits of the ban will be felt greatly in Greece more so than anywhere else as a result of it’s extremely high smoking rates. More than 42% of the population over the age of 15 is a smoker and smokes an average of 8 cigarettes per day. Across Europe, the equivalent number is 29%.
This is what the smokers shall suffer if they do not comply with the latest regulations. If you light up in a publicly enclosed space, you run the risk of being fined 50 to 500 euros with your name on an offenders list and businesses will be subject to losing their licences if the new ban is not adhered to. It will be interesting to see what happens since the partial bans of 2002/03 were ignored.