Reacción a "Reactions to Catalonia's proposal to ban smoking on bar terraces"

SEPAR is in favour of the five measures we have called for and one of them is a ban on smoking in open public spaces. Banning smoking on terraces, in outdoor areas or in any open public space is one of the measures that we have been calling for for a long time. It seems to me to be a good initiative and I hope that the other autonomous regions will join in and that this will be the beginning of the new anti-smoking law that we are demanding, which includes a ban on smoking on terraces and in other open public spaces.  

This type of measure, on the one hand, will protect non-smokers, and on the other hand, it will also encourage smokers who were not thinking of giving up smoking to make a serious attempt to quit. On the other hand, it serves to discourage or prevent new smokers from taking up smoking and to denormalise smoking. Therefore, these types of measures are very important. 

SEPAR has also been insisting for a long time on the importance of financing all pharmacological treatments for smoking. Right now we only have one treatment funded, which is Bupropion. The Minister has spoken of nicotine replacement therapy, which should also be funded, but we believe in the need to fund another, which is one of the most effective treatments for smoking cessation, which is cytisine.  

Each drug is adapted to a specific patient profile and therefore, although any funding initiative is positive, we believe that all drugs should be funded. We have been insisting for some time now to the Ministry of Health on the need to finance these smoking cessation treatments because they are efficient, effective, cost-effective, that is, they represent a very significant economic saving for the national health system and, most importantly, they produce great health benefits in terms of morbidity, mortality, quality of life and a reduction in health resources.