I remember that the introductory material for one of my study aboard programs to Moscow said that Russia is a smoker's country, and that couldn't be more true. Russia is the world's top consumer of tobacco, and a staggering 60% of Russian men smoke (40% of the overall population smokes--double the US percentage). Cigarettes are cheap; a pack costs somewhere between one and two dollars. Also, you can smoke almost everywhere. There are very few non-smoking areas in Russia, and people even smoke in the few non-smoking places that exist (the bathroom at the Vladimir Business Institute, where some of our classes are held, has a big "No Smoking" sign on the door, but usually there is a haze of smoke inside). Even some of the guys who are always at my gym smoke, and they will occasionally take smoke breaks in the middle of the workouts.
All that can be kind of annoying for a non-smoker. I don't really care what people choose to do, and quite a few of my friends in Russia are smokers, but I hate coming back from a night out and smelling like I rolled around in an ashtray. In a lot of bars and clubs, the cigarette smoke is so thick that you can practically taste it.
My trip to Ukraine made me aware of just how smoky Russia is. Ukraine enacted an indoor smoking bar in late 2012, and it was great to be able to go to a bar, cafe, restaurant, or pool hall and not come out reeking of cigarettes. I was actually against the Ohio indoor smoking ban when it came up for a vote in 2006--I thought each business should have the right to make the decision of whether to go no-smoking or not--but now I'm thankful for it.
Russia's government has realized the enormous problems that having so many smokers poses, and a law was recently passed that will increase cigarette prices, ban advertising, and enact an indoor smoking ban by 2015. This is one time that I am really glad that Putin is president of Russia because he is an athlete and anti-smoker, and if anyone can stand up to the tobacco lobby, it is VVP. As one of my Russian friends (and a chain smoker) once pointed out, the cigarettes being smoked in Russia are made by American or British companies. He called it the West's punishment for the Cold War.
My teenage students tell me that it is cool to start smoking around age 12 and really cool if you can quit by age 17 (the success rate is probably pretty low). It makes me sad to see young teenagers walking down the street puffing away and enriching the coffers of some slimy American company. American tobacco companies have looked to Russia as their salvation as smoking rates throughout most of the world have dropped, and it is disgusting to think that these fat cats are making profits by robbing the health of the youth of this country. Maybe Putin can turn things around.
All that can be kind of annoying for a non-smoker. I don't really care what people choose to do, and quite a few of my friends in Russia are smokers, but I hate coming back from a night out and smelling like I rolled around in an ashtray. In a lot of bars and clubs, the cigarette smoke is so thick that you can practically taste it.
My trip to Ukraine made me aware of just how smoky Russia is. Ukraine enacted an indoor smoking bar in late 2012, and it was great to be able to go to a bar, cafe, restaurant, or pool hall and not come out reeking of cigarettes. I was actually against the Ohio indoor smoking ban when it came up for a vote in 2006--I thought each business should have the right to make the decision of whether to go no-smoking or not--but now I'm thankful for it.
Russia's government has realized the enormous problems that having so many smokers poses, and a law was recently passed that will increase cigarette prices, ban advertising, and enact an indoor smoking ban by 2015. This is one time that I am really glad that Putin is president of Russia because he is an athlete and anti-smoker, and if anyone can stand up to the tobacco lobby, it is VVP. As one of my Russian friends (and a chain smoker) once pointed out, the cigarettes being smoked in Russia are made by American or British companies. He called it the West's punishment for the Cold War.
My teenage students tell me that it is cool to start smoking around age 12 and really cool if you can quit by age 17 (the success rate is probably pretty low). It makes me sad to see young teenagers walking down the street puffing away and enriching the coffers of some slimy American company. American tobacco companies have looked to Russia as their salvation as smoking rates throughout most of the world have dropped, and it is disgusting to think that these fat cats are making profits by robbing the health of the youth of this country. Maybe Putin can turn things around.
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