Spain’s smoking ban

SPAIN'S SMOKING BAN

I have just received a further missive from Andrew Linn (Culture Spain’s wine and food critic) – as a final note on the contentious subject of the smoking ban in Spain.  Certainly, the smoking ban in Spain has aroused some strong feelings with many of you commenting upon this subject.

So, I felt that it was worth Posting Andrew’s comments as they relate to the continuing story of the Marbella restaurant that has deliberately flouted Spain’s smoking ban in what appears to be a kamikaze demonstration of independence – given the huge fines that the restaurant faces.

Andrew Linn says:

The fines that may be levied on the first Spanish bar-restaurant (Asador Guadalmina) to openly flout the smoking ban in Spain are quoted in the press as amounting to 610,000 euros!   This is enough, surely, to close down the business and put all its employees onto the unemployed register – at a cost to the State.

However, reports are also coming in, dail,y of other hostelries up and down the country that have joined the protest.  Several bars claim they have seen business drop off so drastically since the ban that they either have to allow smoking or close down.  There is no doubt that Spaniards are not taking this measure lying down, unlike Ireland and the UK, to name but two.

The thrust of the opposition to the smoking ban in Spain, even from non-smokers, is if smoking is a bad thing – then sales of cigarettes should be banned altogether, along the lines of if you want to get rid of something evil you have to cut it off at the roots.  This will never happen of course but it does raise many questions relating to civil liberties and democratic rights. 

The oft-quoted reason for the ban in bars relating to the harm it was doing bar workers is hard to justify since they never complained about it, and prior to the ban there is no bar or restaurant on record as having banned smoking on its own account. 

What no-one, but no-one, can understand is why a choice is against the law: smoking or non-smoking establishments.  Who on earth suffers if, in a row of five bars along the same street, two decide they will allow smoking?  Non-smokers will go to the non-smoking bars and employees of the smoking bars would know exactly where they stood and would not be obliged to put up with smoke, if they did not want to.  It seems that like many other nonsensical laws brought in by Zapatero’s misguided government, it was thought that a complete smoking ban in Spain would improve Spain’s image internationally.

The number of denuncias for smoking or allowing smoking is still almost nil – so it seems that the famous Spanish tolerance is alive and well…

Do give me your views!  Does all of this reflect well on the culture of Spain or does it indicate that Spain still remains behind the culture of the rest of developed Europe?  Should ‘options’ be built into laws or are blanket bans the way to rid society of something damaging?

RELEVANT INFO:  smoking ban in Spain.