Extending Smoking Ban Outside Bars Could Reduce Social Smoking

Not content with banning smoking indoors, scientists in New Zealand are now saying that by extending the ban to beer gardens too, social smoking could be reduced.

Many interviewees said that they only smoke when having a drink, so introducing smoke-free zones outside bars could reduce smoking by removing the cues, which stimulate otherwise social smokers to light up.

The authors of the study claim that 'such a policy would eliminate the current intersection between smoke-free and smoking space and create a physical barrier that, for some, would make accessing the smoking zone too difficult.'