German State Bans Smoking in Schools

Germany's drugs commissioner, Marion Caspers-Merk, has welcomed plans by the state of Lower Saxony to implement a sweeping smoking ban throughout the region's schools, and has called on other states to follow the example. Lower Saxony's Education Minister, Bernd Busemann, is currently looking ways of enforcing such a ban without violating current laws. Hamburg and Berlin have also both announced plans to stub out smoking on school premises. In Hamburg, the ban, which will take in pupils, teachers, caretakers and parents, is scheduled for implementation sometime in the coming school year. Berlin is moving even faster, and is hoping to declare its schools smoke-free zones with the start of the new school year. But whether or not that will actually happen, remains to be seen, as under the current law, it is up to each district of the capital to decide who can or can't light up behind the bike sheds.