(23 Dec 2009) STORY LINE:
According to a survey by the European Union''s pollster, Eurobarometer, Bulgaria ranks only second to Greece as the country for having the highest percentage of smokers in Europe.
Thirty nine percent of Bulgarians smoke constantly or from time to time.
According to another survey by the Ministry of Health, 52.4 per cent of men in Bulgaria smoke, compared to 38.1 per cent of women.
A lack of governmental strategy towards smoking restrictions before Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 had turned the country into a haven for smokers.
But although some Bulgarians see the new law as draconian, the vast majority are in favour of the new restrictions.
Still, some believe the measures will be difficult to police.
"There are way too many smokers in Bulgaria. So it will be difficult to get all of them obeying the new law. I think there will be penalties for trespassers. People don''t take this kind of restrictions too seriously here in Bulgaria," says Cobian Lakov - a resident in the capital, Sofia.
As of January 1 2010 the tax on tobacco will increase to 101 Bulgarian leva (US$ 77.50) instead of the current 41 leva (US$ 31.50) for every 1000 cigarettes.
The price for a packet of 20 cigarettes will go up some 40 to 50 percent.
The increase has already caused frictions between the government and tobacco manufacturers and distributors.
But Aleksandar Balakov, a tobacconist in downtown Sofia, thinks the market will not shrink.
"I think Bulgarians won''t quit smoking. So they will keep buying cigarettes hence I won''t be out of job!"
With more than 300 hospitals, Bulgaria has an oversized national health sector inherited from the times of communism.
A large stake of the country''s National Health Insurance Fund is destined to cure and treat smoking related diseases.
Tight budgetary measures will cut spending on hospitals and health in 2010 by some 300 million leva (US$ 230 million).
Doctor Kosta Kostov is one of the country''s most renowned pulmonologists.
Every day he attends to dozens of smokers at his practice in the National Military Academy Hospital in Sofia.
He says that if the new law succeeds, millions of leva destined to treat lung cancer or pulmonary emphysema could be saved every year.
"To be free means to be in good health. And we as physicians are involved in this task of making people healthy. Especially pulmonologists. Everybody is free to smoke. But we live in community. And if you smoke in front of non smokers either at your work place or at a restaurant then you are not respecting the freedom of the non smokers. Then the health of everybody is damaged."
Georg Zdrakov Georgiev is a factory worker from Sofia.
Georgiev started smoking in his youth and over the years has developed severe pulmonary emphysema.
He wants to quit smoking and thinks that the new law will help people like him give up smoking.
"If the new law will restrict smoking all the better. Because to restrict smoking will mean better health for us smokers. Its much better this way," he says.
The new legislation was approved in May by the country''s unicameral parliament.
The debate at the National Assembly caused fierce verbal clashes between smoking and non-smoking representatives.
Doctor Lachezar Ivanov, vice president of the National Assembly, as well as a reputed pulmonologist, is the man behind the new law.
Ivanov says that the introduction of smoking measures will be staggered.
The most significant objections regarding the ban have been raised by owners of bars and restaurants.
But they remain reluctant to give their opinions openly.
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