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Reports have shown that since the official smoking ban was introduced in Italy six years ago, Italians have been purchasing less cigarettes weekly but few Italians have made the choice to quit alltogether. Cigarette sales have registered a 12% drop in the last six years but the amount of Italians who regularly smoke has remained between 22 and 23% for the last six years. Suggesting that the smoking ban has had little to no affect in encouraging Italians to kick the habit for good. Health experts say there has been a mild improvement in that statistics suggest on average Italians are buying one less packet of cigarettes a month. Italians may not be quitting but the ban is encouraging people to cut down.
Health experts in Italy stress that although this is a good start, more needs to be done to push this initiative and reach even better results in forthcoming years. While the original smoking ban in public places was introduced in 2005, an further extension was brought in, in 2007 to also include train stations. Naples and Verona have also banned smoking in public parks.
Experts have called for more help from the media to push anti-smoking initiatives throughout Italy. More government initiatives such as lowering taxes on anti-smoking products and setting up specialised medical centres are expected to be introduced in the future.