The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : SMOKING OUT THE WEED

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Monday, Feb 07, 2005

Opinion

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SMOKING OUT THE WEED

THE KING OF Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, plans to "cut down on cigarettes" as well he might. Path-breaking legislation has made the tiny Himalayan kingdom the world's first non-smoking nation. It would be embarrassing if His Majesty did not set an example, if not by kicking the noxious habit, at least by cutting back on his nicotine fixes. In Wangchuk's new Shangri-la — which once famously proclaimed that the "gross national happiness" was more important than the gross national product — it is now illegal to buy or sell tobacco, or smoke it in public. The law is stringent: violators are liable to be fined the equivalent of Rs.10,000. Bhutanese can get around the ban only by getting permission to import small quantities of tobacco for "personal use," which attract substantial sums in duties. Propaganda that smoking is bad for karma (and not good for health either) has helped radically to reduce the number of smokers in this deeply religious Buddhist nation over the last ten years. The anti-tobacco campaign has impeccable historical credentials; the monk who founded Bhutan, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, is said to have slapped restrictions on smoking as early as 1629. According to some estimates, only 1 per cent of the Bhutanese population currently smokes — an inspiring statistic for anti-tobacco policy makers worldwide.

On a map of the world, Bhutan may seem like a tiny no-smoking zone. But as most tobacco users are aware, the space for smokers is shrinking — and very fast. Smoking in public places (which usually include workplaces, restaurants, and bars) has been banned in countries as far flung as Ireland, Norway, Russia, and New Zealand. The message is loud and clear. Smokers who already feel beleaguered and besieged may well gasp and splutter on being informed that there is a coordinated worldwide initiative to crack down on tobacco use. The World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) will come into force on February 25, 2005, having received the minimum 40 member-country ratifications needed to become binding international law. The Convention, which will become the world's first public health treaty, obliges states to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising and sponsorship, lay down norms for packaging and labelling of tobacco products, and introduce effective measures to protect people from exposure to smoke in workplaces, public transport systems, and other public spaces.

"A cigarette is the only consumer product, which when used as directed, kills its consumer," quipped Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Director-General of WHO and a pioneer of the FCTC initiative. The war against tobacco may have acquired a new edge in recent times, but both smoking and the campaign against it have a long and colourful history. In the early 1600s, Britain's King James condemned the habit as "a custom loathful to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain and nearest resembling the horribly Stygian smoke of the pit that is bottomless." Smokers were routinely beaten in medieval Russia but the habit was especially hazardous during the reign of a 17th century Ottoman sultan who had those caught trading in tobacco beheaded on the spot. Threats, barbs, jibes — smokers over the centuries have survived them all before being done to death, in a huge number of cases, by tobacco itself. The world is discovering that the most effective way of discouraging tobacco use is to make it difficult to procure, and to restrict space for smokers aggressively. This is exactly what Bhutan has done. Now even King Jigme Wangchuk will not be able to sneak the odd cigarette out of the privacy of his palatial home.

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