Smoke Fines

From the MT:
"Russia Pulls In More Than $500K in Fines From Rebel Smokers"

Since January, more than half a million dollars (17.4 million rubles) in fines have been collected from smokers evading Russia's crackdown on cigarettes, the Federal Consumer Protection Service announced on Sunday. The month of June alone saw the issuance of 8 million rubles in fines. Over 2,700 fines have been handed out since January. Russia's newly bolstered anti-smoking legislation, part of a wider government campaign to change the public's attitude to smoking and promote a healthier lifestyle, has been implemented in stages since it was passed last summer.  The first stage saw smoking banned near public places like schools, hospitals, stores and playgrounds in the summer of 2013. The ban was then expanded to include train stations, hotels, restaurants and cafes on June 1 this year. Of those slapped with fines so far this year, 1,800 were individuals, more than 700 individual sellers of tobacco products and about 150 legal entities, the agency said, RIA Novosti reported.

^ Now everything makes sense. Russia made the anti-smoking laws to get money. They have lots of laws that don't get enforced or can be bribed away, but it seems this one is a real money-maker and so will be strictly enforced. I remember people smoking EVERYWHERE in every town and city I was in. You couldn't even go to the restroom because it was always filled with people smoking. I am not a smoker, but still believe that smokers should have the right to smoke as long as it is legal to buy cigarettes. Governments seem to only take the easy and lazy way out and simply ban smoking everywhere rather than make it so those that smoke can be comfortable while at the same time keeping them away from those that do not. There are simple, solutions that can be done, but that would be too intelligent (and less lucrative than getting the money from fines.) ^

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-pulls-in-more-than-500k-in-fines-from-rebel-smokers/502694.html