The Malta Independent yesterday published a story whereby the Health Department Inspectorate fell short of denying that it is not funding its own inspections to weed out smokers in enclosed areas.

Malta was one of the first countries to impose a smoking ban indoors in Europe. It was enforced in 2004 and then extended to cover all public places in 2013. We did a little more digging. The Health Department said that the Police Corps is also obliged to patrol for smokers. It turns out, though, that according to the Health Ministry, the numbers are up. It said that in 2013, a total of 30 contraventions were issued through the whole year. This, it said, was compared to the 56 which were issued in the first four months of this year.

Let us get this straight, in a whole of 120 days, slightly less than 60 people were caught lighting up in a public space? Can’t we just stop this farce and admit the situation for what it is. For the first couple of years, the smoking ban was taken relatively seriously. But it is not enforced. If anything, most smokers flout the ban and a great number of establishments not only tolerate smokers, but accommodate them by giving them ashtrays, makeshift ashtrays or the good old “Just ash on the floor, we’ll sweep it up later.”

Restaurants are the exception. The no smoking rule is pretty much 100% observed in such establishments. But the bars and nightclubs are a different matter entirely. The ineffectiveness of enforcing the legislation becomes even more apparent in towns and sleepy villages where pretty much all local bars and clubs allow smoking with impunity. Actually, more often than not, the bar lease owner will probably be chowing down on a cigarette as he serves you.

You do not need to be an investigator to see that the rules are not enforced. Granted, if someone is caught blatantly (56 people in 120 days) then they will be issued with a summons and they will get a fine.

The issue is, what do we do? The answer is obvious. We need to get a hold of the situation. There is no denying that besides being a nasty and smelly habit, smoking is bad for the smoker themselves, as well as those around them. The United Kingdom recently made it illegal for adults to smoke in cars when kids were present. Malta was thinking about introducing similar legislation, but nothing was ever heard of it. Perhaps, it is time to kickstart this legislation and reinvigorate the enforcement of the existing laws. Perhaps, if the government considered increasing the fines involved in the case of breaches, then establishment owners would think twice about allowing it, while those do smoke might be less tempted to light up indoors, or near al fresco tables or playgrounds. At the end of the day, this is about health and the right to be healthy. Just because a smoker wants to pollute his own lungs, that does not given them a right to do it to others. Non-smokers, on the other hand, need to be more vociferous in their opposition to the state of affairs. But most importantly, law enforcement needs to clamp down on abuse and government needs to up the ante by increasing the severity of fines for breaches.