Drug culture

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis officially launched the Health Ministry's national action plan against smoking on Tuesday, hailing it as a "bold initiative for protecting public health" that would "modernize and refine public life."

The government is currently drafting a joint ministerial decision ensuring stricter fines for violations of the anti-smoking law which will officially go into effect on November 19.
The fines currently in place were introduced a decade ago when the first anti-smoking legislation was passed into law and are not considered tough enough by authorities.

A new substance is included in the drug list. This is clear from a Council of Ministers decision amending the Ordinance on the procedure for classifying plants and substances as narcotic.

Lawmakers on Tuesday will be voting on the government's new law for clamping down on smoking in public, which also introduces stricter bans and stiffer fines than the previous, much-flouted legislation.

If the Health Ministry draft bill is ratified, as expected, the new law will go into effect the following day.

For 2018, 51 new substances have appeared, which are being added to so-called designer drugs. This was announced by Dr. Bozhidar Chukurlanov, in connection with the distribution of drugs in Varna, FOCUS News Agency reported.

A Health Ministry draft law that is under public consultation until Wednesday seeks to further strengthen Greece's much-flouted ban on smoking in indoor public areas by expanding its scope and enlisting the help of the police.

The Piraeus Municipal Theater is hosting "I, Markos Vamvakaris," a play based on Angeliki Vellou-Kail's biography of the Greek music legend who spent most of his life in the port city and became one the most influential songwriters, musicians and singers in the rebetiko and laiko genres.

Greek Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias has banned smoking in all public places where there are children. An anti-drug campaign is also starting in Bulgaria's neighbour. Fines of up to 10,000 euro will be imposed on the sale of alcohol and cigarettes to minors, BNR reported.

An US court has ordered the pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson to pay $ 572 million in compensation for the opiate epidemic.

An Oklahoma judge ruled that the company was responsible for exacerbating the drug problem in the state, flooding the market with painkillers that were misleading patients.

Attica public health inspectors have imposed a financial penalty on an employee of the capital's G. Gennimata hospital after she was found to be smoking on the premises during an inspection on August 8, it emerged on Friday.