Fight against smoking

What is the smoking as the social phenomenon

Smoking as process – inhalation of smokes of drugs, preferential natural origin, for the purpose of saturation of an organism the active agents which are contained in them. As a rule, these substances concern to group psychoactive, stimulating think-tanks and changing a mental condition of the smoker. For smoking dry mixes are used. The greatest distribution in the world got tobacco smoking. In consciousness of the modern person smoking directly is associated with the tobacco use.

Smoking – a social problem. Its distribution reached extraordinary scales. According to the data provided to World Health Organization daily in the world more than 15 billion cigarettes per capita are smoked (considering non-smoking). Russia takes the 33rd place in the rating of the countries by the number of smokers among adult population. Annually citizens of Russia smoke more than 300 billion cigarettes. Smoking as the social phenomenon is dangerous that:

• Does irreparable harm to health of the smoker;
• Provokes passive smoking of those who are in a zone of distribution of a cloud of cigarette smoke;
• Toxicity of tobacco smoke exceeds toxicity of exhaust gases by 4 times;
• The composition of tobacco smoke contains a set of toxic dangerous agents, including carcinogens which not only kill an organism of the smoker, but also with the exhaled smoke get to the atmosphere.

What is fight against smoking: main measures and ways of fight against smoking

Fight against smoking – the complex of public and household, administrative, cultural, legal measures directed to decrease in level of consumption of tobacco products, and also the prevention of its further use. The first measures in fight against smoking were taken still long before the problem assumed the world scale. The first fact of imprisonment for smoking of tobacco belongs to the 16th century.

Now the world practice on fight against smoking uses several ways of prevention of distribution of smoking:

• Explanatory. This technique assumes explanations of harm of smoking, habit effects. The main shortcomings of this method of controlling with smoking are its limitation of impact on audience, incidence, small persuasiveness in comparison with stereotypic promoting of smoking (cinema, literature);
• Restrictive and prohibitive. This way of fight against smoking is more efficient, than a simple explanation and the theoretical report of the facts on harm of smoking of target audience. Nevertheless, in the countries with the imperfect legislation (Russia among them) the tendency of low level of observance of the rules and regulations established by the law is observed;
• Comprehensive elimination and substitution of need of people for smoking of tobacco products. This approach differs in complexity of impact on society: legal and administrative restriction, cultural, scientific, public and household influence. The purpose of this technique is search of the reasons in society inducing people to smoking and elimination of these reasons. It is necessary to recognize that in Russia extremely separate package of measures for fight against smoking is applied that explains their low performance.

Smoking in Russia – scale of a problem

These researches of consumption of tobacco in Russia showed that in Russia smoke:

• More than 62% of men;
• About 28% of women.

Total quantity of smokers exceeds 44 million people that makes more than 40% of the general population of the country. About 1% of the population of Russia begins to smoke up to 15 years. Data of the same research revealed rather high intensity of smoking in Russia. So, men on average smoke about 18 cigarettes a day while the quantity of the smoked cigarettes in day women reaches 13-15 pieces.

About 80% of the population of Russia are subject to passive smoking (bars, public places, in the houses). More than 23% of men's death and about 4% women's are connected with smoking in Russia.

Fight against smoking in Russia

Separation of the taken measures in fight against smoking becomes the main reason for achievement of such scale social a smoking problem in Russia.

On fight against smoking in Russia it is possible to distinguish the following from the main stages:

• Accession of Russia to the framework convention of World Health Organization on fight against tobacco on April 16, 2008;
• Adoption of the order on smoking prohibition in the country (The Federal law No. 15-FZ "About protection of public health from influence of surrounding tobacco smoke and effects of consumption of tobacco" of 23.02.2013).

Provisions of the convention regulate and limit the international standards in the following areas:

• Passive smoking;
• Increase in the prices and taxes on tobacco products;
• Illegal trade;
• Advertizing and other ways of promotion of tobacco products and stimulation of their consumption;
• Marking of tobacco products;
• Sponsorship of public and sporting events.

The federal law assumes:

• Restriction of the places allowed for smoking. Under action of prohibition on smoking in Russia all public organizations and institutions, educational, medical, places of public use, and also the territory adjacent to them in a radius of 15 m get. Prohibition on smoking in Russia also limits the use of tobacco products in long distance trains, sea and aircrafts, hotels and housing rooms of other type;
• Restrictions of trade in tobacco products;
• Prohibition of any sort of advertizing, sponsorship, stimulation of consumption of tobacco products;
• Other measures, among which delivery of health care, directed to refusal of tobacco smoking and treatment of nicotine addiction, a measure for reduction of demand for tobacco products, informing the population on harm of tobacco smoking, strict control of the economic sphere in production, sale, import, export of tobacco products.

Whether the order on smoking prohibition will be effective? The federal law on prohibition of smoking became effective on June 1, 2013. Disturbance of this order on prohibition of smoking assumes penalties:

• Sale of tobacco products to minor – from 8 to 90 thousand rubles;
• Smoking in the prohibited places for citizens – to 50 thousand rubles;
• Advertizing of tobacco products – from 2 to 500 thousand rubles.