Land of Ice, Fire and Smoke

I have just returned to Boston from a month's vacation in Reykjavik and I have to say, I smelled of cigarettes when I left Iceland. I should say that I don't smoke, however I did spend a significant amount of time at the capital's cafes and bars (if there is a distinction), where people don't hesitate lighting up. Research that shows nonsmoking bar staff have a comparable amount of nicotine in their blood as regular smokers does not seem as far fetched to me as it did before my last trip to Iceland. That is one scary statistic.

This is however about to change in less then a year. The Icelandic legislature passed a law last month that bans smoking in all restaurants and bars in Iceland, starting July 1st next year.I will not get into the arguments for and against the smoking ban-- god knows that there are good arguments on both sides. Instead I want to speculate how the Icelandic nation will react to the ban.I currently live in Boston where smoking has been banned since May 2003. The ban has been completely enforced and respected, while not harming business. This is also true for other states where smoking has been banned in bars and restaurants. People just go outside to smoke and, let me tell you, Boston's winters are colder than Iceland's. Will Icelandic smokers be as well-behaved as their Bostonian counterparts? I hope I'll be able to witness the smoking ban go into effect next summer; that will be an interesting day to spend in Reykjavik.

I can see a strange-looking flock of clean-cut, well-dressed libertarian youngsters lining up with rocking, artsy hipsters shouting angry slogans like "Are you going to stop me from smoking at home, too!", "It's my choice to be the slave of big tobacco companies" and "Smoking is COOL" at our newly appointed minister of public health, Siv Fridleifsdottir. I can see riots at Sirkus, a bar in Reykjavik where one will find more lit cigarettes than people at any given time, when the police are called to stop the drunken crowd in a smoke orgy. That is, if the

owner doesn't stop it first, throwing the smokers out on the sidewalk, grabbing their cigarettes, taking a smoke--outside of course--before putting the cigarette out. Things might get ugly.I just hope Icelanders are polite enough to follow the law. If a smoking ban can work in New York City, it can work in Reykjavik.

Smokers: think outside of your cigarette box, take your cigarette outside.

Baldur Héðinsson, mathematics student and DJ living in Boston.