How Smoking Bans Work

Covering smoking ban in public places, statistics and debate

Smoking bans first became implemented in the United States in 1990 in California. Their popularity and controversy has since grown. By 2009 there were 38 states in America that had implemented a smoking ban.

Banning smoking is mostly as a result of the ill-effects of smoking in public places. Ever since concrete and credible evidence became available of the dangers of second hand smoke, governments and authorities became interested in influencing tobacco use and public health.

Public smoking control has since spread to other parts of the world such as Europe and Japan and South Africa amongst many other countries. It's spread has mostly been under the UN (WHO) sponsored Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC). A smoking ban is usually backed by a national or state smoking legislation also known as a smoking law.

A smoking law regulates how and where people smoke. Most smoking legislation includes a ban on smoking in restaurants, pubs, schools, airports and offices. A ban on smoking would also ensure that enclosed public places and services such as taxis and trains display no smoking warnings at all times.

In the UK for example, it is compulsory for public buildings and transport service providers to report cases of smoking ban violations. This would involve deterrent fines running into thousands of Pounds per each violation.

Bans on smoking may also leave room for those who smoke to do so in designated areas. This is the case in some airports around the world. Whilst some terminal buildings may ban smoking altogether, others allow people to smoke within smoking shelters with advanced ventilation technology.

The effect of a smoking ban in any given community has been shown often to even include a fall in incidences of specific smoking related diseases. This would extend to asthmatic attacks amongst children, cardiovascular ailments and respiratory problems.

In the United States and parts of Europe bans on smoking have not only targeted those who smoke. They also put the burden to control smoking on shop owners. This usually means it becomes a criminal offense for stores to sell tobacco cigarettes to underage smokers. Authorities would carry out random checks to ensure the law is being upheld.

Some bans on smoking especially those targeting teenage tobacco users would make it a criminal offense for a teenager to be found in possession of cigarettes. In addition to involving police, the alleged violator may even face expulsion or suspension from school.

The smoking ban debate is essentially between smokers and non-smokers mostly represented by anti-smoking groups. People who smoke cigarettes feel smoking is a personal decision that has personal consequences and should not be banned in public. On the other hand anti-smoking group rely on scientific evidence showing how passive smoking affects innocent non-smokers.

Bans on smoking will only increase and become even tighter going forward to the great disadvantage of people who smoke.

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