France clears air in offices, public buildings

The haze of smoke in France will begin to clear this month as France adopts a nationwide smoking ban in offices and public buildings. By the end of this year, smoking will also be banned in cafes, restaurants, bars, hotels, and casinos.

The clean-air legislation follows the lead of Spain, Italy, and Ireland. More than 65,000 French people die each year from smoking-related illness or effects of second-hand smoke.

The move follows a steep decline in the popularity of smoking in France. In the 1950s, about three quarters of French males smoked. Today, about three quarters do not smoke.

Government policy had a hand in the change. Federal taxes raised the price of cigarettes by more than half in the past three years. They now cost about $6.66 a pack.

Starting in February, the ministry will give would-be quitters $66 coupons redeemable for the purchase of nicotine patches, chewing gum or lozenges. Read more.

Spain sees drastic cut in nicotine use

Madrid: The National Committee for the Prevention of Tobacco Addiction has described the Government’s anti-smoking legislation as the ‘the best advance in public health in Spain in the last two decades’.

They say that nicotine levels in the workplace have fallen 83% since the introduction of the legislation on January 1 this year.

There are an estimated half million fewer smokers now than a year ago. 210 million less cigarette packets have been sold this year, compared to last. More.

Spain tops U.S. in cocaine use

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Spain overtook the U.S. as the country with the highest proportion of cocaine users as the Iberian nation's economic growth made the drug more affordable.

Three percent of Spaniards aged between 15 and 64 had cocaine over the past year, the government said in a report last week. That beats the U.S. for the first time and is the highest among countries that have reliable statistics, said Thomas Pietschmann, an analyst at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna.

Cocaine, once a vice of the rich, is now affordable for more people in Spain. The country's economy, which grew at an annual rate of 3.8 percent in the third quarter, is set to expand faster than the euro area for a 12th year in 2006. Spain is also Europe's main entry for the drug because of ties with cocaine-producing former colonies such as Colombia. More.