Last summer, the Barcelona’s town hall successfully carried out a pilot test consisting of the smoking ban on four city beaches. Now, the announcement is already firm and the political consensus in the change of the municipal ordinances is going to allow extend the measure to all the beaches from Barcelona, as is already the case in other coastal towns, such as L’Escala, Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Lloret and El Masnou. The ban not only seeks a reduction in consumption, but also a protection towards all non-smokers and a less impact on the environment, circumstance, this, which was revealed in the actions of last summer with the decrease in cigarette butts collected on the beaches. It is estimated that 20% of the population smokes in Barcelona. Although the percentage is half in the maritime environment, it was reduced to 3% with the provisions of a year ago. Now, after a first period of information between April and June, and in accordance with European guidelines and Spanish provisions, the ban will be effective in July in the 10 stretches of coastline, with the corresponding monitoring of the new regulation by the Directorate of Platges and the Public Health Agency of Barcelona.
Spaces for smokers are becoming more and more limited. If in the last regulation in this regard, from 2011, tobacco was still allowed outdoors such as terraces or soccer fields, with the push of specific circumstances that already limited this possibility, either by individual measures, or by specific recommendations or regulations due to of the pandemic, the reform planned by the Ministry of Health for this 2022 is absolutely exhaustive. Provides a ban in all these places and, in general, in those open spaces with agglomeration of people (including the beaches, of course), but also in private vehicles with minors or pregnant women. At the same time, in the new law and in the anti-tobacco plan, dissuasive measures are proposed, such as the increase in taxes and the price of the product. All this, with the recommendation of scientific and medical entities, which advocate the need to reduce the smoking population which, according to the latest European Health Survey, is 16.4% among women in Spain and 23 .3% among men, with mortality figures, attributable to tobacco, of more than 50,000 people per year.
One of the objectives of the new legislation is not only to increase social pressure on smokers to lower the percentages, but safeguard the health of passive smokers, exposed to smoke in many of the places that will soon be smoke-free. And it doesn’t just mean cigarettes, but also cigars, rolling tobacco, water pipes and e-cigarettes. The Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking, which runs until 2025, plans to reduce consumption by 30%, in relation to 2010 data, and, in particular, advocates a healthier society and also more respectful of others and the environment. Ordinances such as the one that Barcelona will implement anticipate state legislation and follow the same line of harshness necessary to banish a harmful and unhealthy habit.