There are fewer and fewer places where a person can light up.
Smoking bans have been put in place in many cities across the country -- even the world.
But just how effective are these bans?
Dr. Paul Scanlon is a Pulmonologist specializing in lung diseases related to smoking.
He has seen first hand that smoking and second hand smoke can increase your risk of lung cancer, emphysema and heart attacks.
Heart attacks are an issue because exposure to cigarette smoke increases the tendency for blood to clot, blocking the coronary arteries.
Among other things, smoking bans are thought to reduce the risk of heart attacks from exposure to cigarette smoke.
"It turns out there's pretty good science to back that up," he says.
A recent study looked at the heart attack rates in several cities across the US, Canada and Europe where smoking bans are in effect.
The results showed that in those cities heart attack rates dropped by 19 per cent -- that's almost one out of five people.
"The beneficial effects are very real," says Scanlon. "And it affects both smokers and non-smokers."
And because finding a place to smoke in public is more difficult than ever -- smokers have extra incentive to break the habit. It's simply harder to find places to light up.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dr. Rhonda Low
