Spain bans smoking at beaches, will Greece follow Spanish example?

It’s probably happened to you: there you are at a nice empty beach, breathing in the salty sea air when all of a sudden the rancid odor of burning tobacco fills your nostrils. You may not even be able to see from whence it came, such is the ability of smoke to travel far, but you smell it, and it sort of ruins the whole nature vibe.

Well in Spain they’ve had enough of the nasty habit of smoking on the beach. Taking a puff is already banned on Barcelona’s beaches and in the Canary Islands. Effective immediately, every local municipality in Spain has the legal authority to slap a fine of up to €2,000 on anyone caught smoking a cigarette on a beach where smoking is banned.

The crackdown is seen as a way to eliminate cigarette butts piling up on the sand, which of course is gross, but in my view it’s more disgusting to have to inhale someone’s toxic exhaled cigarette smoke—which may be diluted slightly by the open air, but is no less laced with cancer-causing chemicals by the time it hits your nose. It’s worth noting while authorities in the south of France and Sardinia have imposed similar rules, countries in the Eastern Mediterranean lag way behind. I can’t even tell y’all how many times I’ve had what should have been beachside bliss in Greece and Israel simply and definitively ruined by rude smokers in proximity—yes rude, because as of now they know they can blow smoke your way with total impunity. Si, si! It must end.

So let’s hope that beachy countries like Israel, Greece, and Cyprus take their cue from the ahead-of-the-curve Spanish and put the kibosh on all these seaside smoke fests: no butts!