It's enough to make smokers fuming mad, but plans to bring American style no smoking bars to our towns and cities could save thousands of lives.
One hundred and twenty thousand smokers die every year of smoking-related diseases such as lung cancer and heart attacks, six times the number killed in road accidents.
The North East of England is one of the worst offenders with 30% of the population lighting up compared with 27% in the country as a whole.
According to the World Health Organisation, one out of every two long-term smokers will be killed by tobacco.
        
        
From 1985-2000, tobacco has killed more than 60 million people in the developed countries alone, more than died in World War Two.
In the North East it's a similar story with one of the worst mortality rates from smoking-related illnesses in the UK.
In this part of the country 85 men and 44 women per 100,000 contract lung cancer each year compared to the national average of 72 men and 35 women.
But what would be the effect of declaring war on tobacco, and would smokers be happy to comply with a ban on smoking in public places?
Inside Out decided to find out. We asked the University of Newcastle's Medical School to carry out a survey into smoking.
The results suggest that the majority of people would support an overall smoking ban in public places.
Sixty three per cent of North Easterners surveyed were in favour a ban.

An overwhelming majority of 83% agreed with a ban on lighting up in restaurants and cafes.

The main reasons people gave in support of a ban were:
* to improve their own health - 31%
* to improve the health of others - 36%
* to reduce unpleasant smells - 25%
* to prevent environmental damage - 6%
But a third of people in the survey said that they would oppose a ban. Unsurprisingly, the "no" lobby was especially strong from smokers, 56% of whom opposed an overall ban.
The main reasons given were:
* it would be a breach of civil liberties (19%)
* they were active smokers (14%)