In the new terminal of the Sheremetyevo Airport in the neutral zone, when all the borders and controls have been passed and everyone is waiting for their flight (sometimes an hour or more) before a many-hour flight, a spacious room for smokers is empty. At one time, they built just taking into account the care of all passengers. The room is equipped with powerful hoods and armchairs. Once, a friend of mine and a colleague from a decent European country several years ago enviously noted that only Russians can take care of people like that. Nobody bothers anyone - and everyone is comfortable.
However, even in the previous convocation, our parliament passed the draconian law banning smoking at airports in general. And all the smoking rooms were closed. That is, do not care about the army of smokers. Like, a bad habit and your problem - if you can’t endure six or seven hours, then don’t fly at all. Rudeness, of course.
And I still remember those times when in Sheremetyevo-2 you could smoke everywhere - like for foreigners to be comfortable. By the way, at that time, there were reserved places for us, and there was only such fronting. Like they have there. They smoked on planes too - there was an ashtray in each armrest. Now other trends.
It is clear that smoking is bad and harmful. And that, of course, there should not be any tobacco propaganda anywhere. But there is a multimillion-strong army of smokers. What to do with them? After all, we also have rights!
For many heavy smokers, such an experiment with a ban at airports is a real torment, and of course, many break down and smoke in toilets. As a result, the effect is achieved exactly the opposite: the smell of tobacco smoke stretches across the entire terminal, everyone breathes it - both non-smokers and children. After all, there is no policeman in the neutral zone, and if airport employees make a remark, I won’t do it anymore - that’s all!
Instead of obliging the law to provide all the country's airports with such modern smoking rooms, as in Sheremetyevo, our legislators then doomed millions of passengers to torment. Speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said this during the discussion of the bill on the return of specialized smoking areas: “I have never smoked and there is no craving, but why torture people who may be planning to quit smoking? What kind of approach is this? ”
And yesterday, the State Duma decided to make a gift to the people for the New Year and repealed this idiotic law in the third, final reading.
Now, if anyone here says about populism on the eve of the Duma elections in 2021, I will answer: when populism is for the benefit of people, it is no longer populism, but justice. Now again in Sheremetyevo a smoking room will be opened, and I am sure at all the country's airports too. Where there is not yet, they will build it.
This does not completely abolish the desire of society for a healthy lifestyle. This is especially true for our children. It is very important to prevent children from being drawn into bad habits! But this is completely unrelated to closing special closed places for a smoking audience at airports.
Probably someday I will give up smoking too. But this will be my personal decision, and you should not make violators out of decent people by mocking their habits.
By the way, in all the airports of the world where I happened to be, there are zones for smokers. Where are the balconies on the street, where are the tight glass aquariums, where are the recreational areas with hoods. Nowhere is it said that smoking is good, but with respect to human habits.
Today is the case when it was worth the ban, to then lift the ban under the applause of the general public. Thanks to the State Duma from all smokers of air passengers. Now, by the way, in planes, smokers will also smoke less in latrines. It is simply dangerous there.
And of course, this return of smoking rooms to airports is a vivid illustration of the thesis that any struggle for a brighter future, brought to the point of absurdity, leads to the opposite effect.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.