Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Smokers' paradise lost."
Categories
Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
More recent entries
Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > February > 26 > Entry
Smokers’ paradise lost
Mexico, especially seen through American eyes, has always been something of a smoker’s paradise. Smokers puff happily as they stroll through the local mall, wait for a plane or digest their dinner along with a coffee. But officials in Mexico are clamping down: The Mexican Senate just passed a landmark federal smoking law this afternoon that prohibits smoking in all public, indoor places (unless owners build a self-enclosed smoking section) and severely cracks down on tobacco advertising. The bill also requires huge warning labels on all packs and prohibits the sale of individual cigarettes.
And as I type, the Mexico City legislature is hammering out a tough new amendment to its own smoking ban, scheduled to go into effect this July. The revised version would outlaw smoking in all enclosed public spaces, regardless of whether bar and restaurant owners build a ventilated smoking section. Violations of the law could land offenders a 36-hour stint in a Mexico City jail, enough to make most people wait to light up until they get outside.
But neither measure is a done deal quite yet. President Felipe Calderon still has to sign the federal bill into law (which he is expected to do) and several establishments, including the Wal-Mart owned Vips chain of restaurants, have presented legal challenges to the Mexico City version.
Comments
Click here to report comment abuse.
By Mike
February 27, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
Good luck enforcing this. I doubt many bar and restaurant owners will prevent tourists from smoking when they visit. When I was in Mexciao last year, there were ashtrays in the duty-free jewelry stores and pharmacies that populate many Mexican border towns.