No More Smoking in Indoor Public Spaces in Bulgaria

Starting June 1st Bulgaria will ban smoking in all indoor public spaces trying to encourage people quite smoking. It seems that in his Balkan country more than 40 percent of the adult population smokes.

As expected, the measure was welcomed by health experts and non-smokers and disliked by the smokers.

A survey showed 56 percent of Bulgarians, the second heaviest smokers in the EU after Greeks, oppose the total ban on smoking in closed public areas.

There are voices arguing that this measure will lead to 18,000 people losing their jobs.

It is a measure however that protects the smokers as in many countries a traveler (and even a local) who doesn’t smoke hardly finds a place where there is at least a non-smoking where the smoke doesn’t get area.

There will probably be many people not obeying the new regulation, and they should now there are some fines they will have to pay: up to 5,000 levs for a first offence and up to 10,000 levs for a repeat violation for bar-owners or managers tolerating smoking in restricted areas. People will have to pay up to 500 levs for a first offence – and maybe more for repeated actions.

Who knows if banning something will lead indeed to people quit using that thing – in this case stop smoking. But it is also hard for a non-smoker to always breathe smoke from the persons nearby. Even as you walk through a park, an open space or from one place to another trying to get to work or to solve something if someone is smoking in front, the smoke gets to you. And you end up smoking passively. And if you have a child he also smokes. And that’s not fair either.