"People will move away from terraces but will continue smoking in the streets"

BarcelonaThe Spanish government approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers the most important anti-tobacco legislation since 2005. Although there is still a way to go before it is applied, the crackdown on tobacco has been received in different ways on the street.

Xavi, a young smoker who rolls his cigarette while having coffee on a terrace in the Sant Antoni neighborhood, believes it is a well-founded law. “It makes sense. While someone is eating or with children it is unpleasant and harmful – he admits –. People will move away from the terraces but will continue smoking in the streets”. He assures that neither he nor others will stop smoking because of the new regulations, but he acknowledges that many of his friends “have jumped from tobacco to vaping as a transition”, as a prior step before quitting smoking.

The director of Escola Pia Sant Antoni, Lluís Ballarín, also views the regulations favorably, especially because they affect vapers. He explains that due to their format, with an apparently harmless appearance and different flavors to choose from, they have become "a more playful entry" for some of his students, almost like "a game." In fact, he explains that it is a growing phenomenon that "is controlled" at the school thanks to strict regulations that date back years, but he acknowledges that detecting vapers is not easy. "It's difficult to detect due to the diversity of odors they present," explains the teacher, who recalls detecting cases of smoking among students more easily due to the characteristic smell.

Laura is a psychologist and a smoker. She acknowledges that the phenomenon of vapers "is getting out of hand" due to the number of young people using them, despite "not knowing the long-term harmful effects". She highlights that there is a conflict between individual freedom and possible over-regulation, although, when it comes down to it, she acknowledges that the prioritization of "public health" comes first. She considers the law to be correct because "smoking is an individual decision that a completely unrelated person should not share". She also believes that all of this could have an initial impact on the restaurant industry if the new law is approved in Congress, since "people associate having a drink with tobacco". Just as during the covid pandemic, the psychologist believes that there could be a rethinking of smoking: "Perhaps I would consider quitting smoking".

"If anyone asks me, I'll stop smoking or move away from it"

Krishna is the manager of Chelo, one of the busiest terraces in Plaça Vicenç Martorell, in the Raval neighborhood. He is skeptical about the new law: "Nobody will follow it," he assures and criticizes that public space "is already too limited." He expresses his opinion while having breakfast with Rubén, who is much more forceful than his friend: "If you can't smoke on the terrace, people will come to bars less," assures this resident of Ciutat Vella, who calls the regulation "excessive and paternalistic," a complete "infantilization of people." He understands that in spaces like bus shelters, where the space is reduced and sensitive people may be concentrated by smoke, tobacco is limited, but he considers that the proposal to limit smoke at outdoor concerts is "nonsense, a limitation of individual freedoms".

Both Krishna and Rubén consider it a matter of education: "If someone asks me, I'll stop smoking or move away so as not to bother them," assures Rubén, who is not considering quitting smoking because of this regulation, but for health reasons. He explains that the regulation indoors did make sense, after working for years in architecture offices where smoke was abundant and air circulation was limited. Although he acknowledges that smoke is harmful, he considers that limiting public space in this way is "legislating for the sake of legislating".

Farouk, manager of La Sureña on Tallers street, advocates for an intermediate formula between total prohibition and regulation. "Let's have a schedule, like with the terraces," he proposes. He believes that preventing smoking outdoors can harm bars, since "if you can't do it inside, at least you can do it outside."