The battle to eliminate smoke from Spanish bars and restaurants continues, as bar and restaurant owners begin to expect the worse. Jimenez seems to have picked her particular war against tobacco companies, basing her argument on the ill effects of heavy smoking (that apparently seems to affect people’s health more than heavy drinking, in her opinion.)

In doing so, the plan calls for an outright ban of smoking in all public places, airports, bars, restaurants, etc. while at the same time allowing the sale of cigarettes etc. in those same public places. In the meantime, Spanish smokers have had to already endure three different price hikes in just the past few months – in the middle of a crisis.

To make matters worse, bar owners that were forced to spend large amounts of money to habilitate their establishments with new non-smoking areas, are now being told that their observance of the previous law will now blow back right in their face. In other words, all that money spent on new construction or rehab will never be recovered or amortised.

Remember something called the Swine Flu (Gripe A)? Do you remember how much the Ministry of Health spent on mounds of vaccines? Where are all those vaccines that no one ever used?

While the Spanish Ministry of Health sides with non-smokers for health reasons, consumers and smokers alike are financing their campaigns to distribute condims and the like among young people,etc. The Ministry has said nothing regarding the abuse of more harmful drugs, such as cannabis and cocaine – among those same young people.

So where is all the revenue taken in from these price hikes going? Why has the tobacco industry been targeted, and not the alcohol / beverage industry? Is this law going to be effective or will it in fact, cause more grief and tax money to unwary consumers – only to be forgotten just a few months later, along with a change of administration? Is this really the time and place for such bans/prohibitions?