The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, published a message on social networks this Tuesday to criticize the ban on outdoor tobacco consumption along with some images of the effects of fentanyl consumption in the US.
"But smoking tobacco on the terraces was prohibited," Díaz Ayuso wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter) along with two photographs of addicts in the US to this substance, a publication that has generated criticism from Más Madrid and PSOE.
The Madrid president has been against "demonizing" open-air tobacco consumption, after the Minister of Health, Mónica García, has made it a priority to "remove" the anti-smoking plan, which contemplates expanding the spaces smoke-free terraces, beaches or cars in the presence of minors and pregnant women, a veto that includes all tobacco derivatives such as vaping devices.
Previously, in a joint appearance with the Valencian president, Carlos Mazón, before a business forum to strengthen ties between Valencia and Madrid, Ayuso has requested that health reports from experts be published before "demonizing" open-air tobacco consumption.
"I hope they publish those reports that tell us that it is so harmful on the terraces," he said.
Díaz Ayuso, who has stated that she is not a smoker, has said that these measures "in an exaggerated manner" have been applied in the US or Canada, and have not been "as demanding with marijuana and other substances."
"We are seeing disastrous numbers of young people, people of all ages, abandoned on the streets, sunk, because they have gone from one drug to the next," he commented.
After its publication on social networks, the PSOE spokesperson in the Assembly, Juan Lobato, has indicated that he does not see "those images after 12 years of prohibiting smoking in bars and restaurants", nor does he see the PP changing that rule when it governed.
"Much ado about nothing," he indicated.
For her part, the leader of Más Madrid, Manuela Bergerot, has also pointed out on the social network that "Ayuso's model is the “freedom” to do pharmaceutical business with fentanyl, pass the dataphone after an appendicitis operation and throw out smoke in the faces of strangers".
"Delete, do yourself a favor," he asked the regional president.
