From Dr M. Asciak MD

I often like to go out for a drink with my wife at the weekend and sometimes our 16 and 13-year-old daughters come with us.

However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a place where we can have this drink. You see, there are members of my family who cannot be exposed to cigarette smoke for any length of time without suffering medical consequences, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a bar where there isn’t someone smoking. The worse case scenario occurred in a snack bar in San Gwann where practically everybody was smoking. In fact there was so much smoke that we couldn’t even see the bar and the barman!

The usual case is frequently a couple of smokers in a corner who discreetly hide their cigarettes and pretend not to notice your disapproving looks, and a barman or barmaid who pretends not to notice either the smokers or your body language protestations. Verbal protestations frequently also fail to instigate any valid action and is often accompanied by a sharp shrug of the shoulder. The fact remains that the place is usually full of cigarette smoke and there is not much that the patron can do about it except walk out, which we often do. To make matters worse, it often transpires that people also smoke in public areas that are administrative, and other places that cannot be considered places of entertainment by their very nature.

I believe that today everybody accepts and realizes the health advantages of prohibiting smoking in public places and how bad the inhalation of second-hand smoke is. Notwithstanding the original resistance to this law, most people now accept the logic behind it and there were many other countries that brought in the ban after we did, including the UK. It is a pity to observe this indifference creeping back in and slowly reintroducing the habit.

It is obvious that the forces of law and order need to redouble their efforts to curb this abuse that has now become common in public places of entertainment. However, I sincerely believe that the owners or bartenders also need to be held responsible and it may be expedient to revisit the legislation concerned to increase the responsibility borne by these people, who should share the blame for allowing people to smoke in the establishments they are accountable for.

Michael Asciak