Cigs, cigs and more cigs...

And so the law decreed, I shall puff away until my last breath!This is what I feel like saying to a smoker sometimes. I always find something almost manic in smokers, hooked on their daily dose of nicotine, unable to let it go. Their eyes grow bulbous as they inhale and blow out contently. It's like a kind of release from worries, from anything that's bothering or angering them. In short it is a habit, albeit an unpleasant one and an easy way to let out steam.

This brings us to the question of why people smoke. Is it a social thing? Many friends have told me they are social smokers, lighting up at social events, possibly when they are a little bored. To young people it's a type of initiation. You won't be fully accepted in the group unless you smoke and so peer pressure starts a spiral of youngsters hooked on the stuff, thinking it is cool and attractive.

Since smoking was banned in public places many do follow the law, only allowing smokers to smoke outside the premises. A recent development now, which I find a little amusing is the electric cigarette for those who are just unable to quit. It is a battery operated device and  you get to choose different flavours of smoke. I suppose it's one alternative to not having to go outside every half an hour to light up, which can be a little anti-social to your non-smoking friends.

There are however those who blatantly ignore the law. On a recent outing to a music venue, the waiters and waitresses handed out small plastic cups with water for the smokers. My clothes and hair reeked of cigarettes when I went home. In a cafe in Larnaca there were non-smoking signs inside and people were still smoking. When I asked the waitress why people were smoking and pointed to the non-smoking sign, she explained unabashed that the sign was only for the tables at the back! Typical. I assumed the owner did not want to lose his regular customers and had given them free rein! The non-smoking sign seemed to look pleadingly at the smokers, notice me, notice me, I'm here. The tourists sitting in the fumed interior of the cafe at the time, did not look at all happy.

The statistics say it all. In a recent survey, Cypriots are the heaviest smokers in the EU smoking 20.5 cigs daily. Most shockingly however is the statistics on young people. One in three secondary school students in Cyprus are smokers compelling the health ministry and police to launch an anti-smoking campaign. It's a classic Cypriot mentality to enforce laws and campaigns when things are already out of control and more difficult to deal with. If this was addressed earlier then maybe these statistics would never have appeared. We just have to wait and see what outcomes if any will be reached following this supposed anti-smoking campaign.