Smoking in Spain, by Johnny Miller

With my time in Spain over for about two months now I have had some time to reflect on a topic that I found very interesting; smoking. In Spain smoking is very common and can be seen about anywhere. It is somewhat of a focal point in Spanish culture for me. After meals with my host family, they would sit on the sofa and smoke cigarettes. When I was in Cadiz many of the people there for the carnival would stop to have a smoke. Over the past 15 years in the United States there has been a large campaign against smoking. There are programs in lower level school that warn of the harmful effects of smoking and how bad it is. The most interesting thing to me is that the packaging is different in both countries. In the U.S. cigarette packs will say that the product is bad for you and warn you but that is about it. In Spain the packs say that smoking is bad, however there are pictures that are very graphic on them. The pictures could be of a dead man or a person going through an autopsy. In my opinion that did not sway anyone from not smoking. My host family had told me it is very common especially starting from a young age. I think this is the case because children learn from adults from a young age so it predisposes them. So from the beginning children think that it is okay to smoke. I think it is the same in the U.S.. It is now very prevalent for kids to learn from their parents that smoking is very bad for you and shouldn’t be done. Having these predispositions is why I see it as different from what I know.

News: https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2020/05/13/world-health-organisation-issues-warning-to-spains-smokers-over-coronavirus/