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New Greek law restricts public smoking _ but gamblers and mental patients exempt 

Europe's most nicotine-addicted nation adopted a new public smoking ban Wednesday in a bid to stub out the Greek habit of lighting up practically everywhere. Exceptions have been made for mental patients and gamblers.

Unrestricted indoor smoking in restaurants, bars, coffee shops and workplaces is now against the law, in the third ban Greece has tried to impose over the past decade.

"We want to change the mentality of many years and adapt our daily habits ... to the practices in effect in all civilized countries," Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said. "Greek society is ready for this."

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