To ban or not to ban, that’s the question
24 July 2009
It made news when Bhutan banned tobacco sale some years ago. It will make more news when Bhutan repeals the ban. Anyway, news is transient; life must go on. I am sure our NC members rocked their brains well when it comes to lifting the ban.
Bhutan has become part of the global livelihood. We cannot make a shopkeeper renounce selling the contraband. Sellers know that tobacco, betel nuts and alcohol kill people. But they will keep on selling till the consumer harnesses his or her own weakness. Apart from these killers, we should also be watchful of vegetables, fruits and our very favourite Indian sweets. The preservatives used can be deadly poisons. I am not against the importers of these foods or passing cynicism. I am just reminding people to be watchful and know that our home-grown food is still organic.
Coming back to tobacco ban, we have atheists, animists, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus etcetera, and among them, we have many who are champions of individualism while some still honour community rights. Therefore, laws based on regional or under religious sentiments will never flourish in Bhutan. The work ethics of our parliamentarians are based on secularism and we must support our government when laws based on universal logics are passed. I am a supporter of lifting the ban! I know many would oppose my view including my own wife. But I see some common sense in what our NC members felt.
The important issue is: lawmakers should protect those who do not abuse tobacco products. We must also design methods to reduce the over indulgence of tobacco. The sea of tobacco is alluring and we may lose many of our near and dear ones easily. We are burning a hole in the ozone layer and also burning every ornament of the Wangpo-gonga (the five sense organs). What to do? It is the devil inside us that creates such designs.
A good thing we can do is to identify places for smoking as done all over the world. The health and environment bodies must rally and campaign till every household tires out and succumbs to living tobacco free. In the end, it is all about education: some of the abusers will learn the hard way; some with government help; some through parental care and some will learn when health system gets privatised.
On a wiser note, legalization of tobacco trade should not mean freedom of smoking, chewing or snuffing wherever one feels like. There are non-abusers of tobacco who should be protected from becoming passive-victims. Common sense also tickles the society about doma and alcohol abusers versus lawmakers’ would-be-decisions. Similarly, the meat ban on certain days and months will always remain paradoxical. In the end, the question remains: to ban or not to ban?
By T. Sangay Wangchuk
Author of Seeing with the Third Eye
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lift the ban but should be heavily taxed – though i am not a smoker. I feel this is the right way to stiffen the smugglers. drugs substances are another deadly weapon to kill own lives, dealers are more dangerous than addictors.
Oser
i dont understand what the government is doing…and i think by banning the tabacco products in bhutan made some of the shopkeepers rich.you know they sont have have to pay taxes for those illigal products..instead they are making profit…by selling at double the price….people dont care..the smokers keeps on smoking and the people who all are responsible are not even aware of what is goin on around….so what i want to say is..it would be fair if the govt eliminates the ban….instead ban the smoking in the public places…
In a democratic institution it is the people who make decisions. Any choice the Politicians or Lawmakers make in the interest of peoples are given overwhelming welcome. It doesn’t matter, whether it was a right or wrong choice. What it matters is what people want!
Lifting the ban on tobacco products is very controversial; for there are peoples who are happy for it and there are peoples who are upset with it. However, unless the people are educated about the reverse effect of such products through awareness campaigns or programs, the purpose is not served either by imposing or lifting the ban. Therefore, the govt. agencies such as education and health departments, school & colleges, NGOs and the well-wishers must do this job, in order to achieve our desired goal.
Every problem has a cause and it is not the problem we ought to treat, but the cause. For instance we cannot keep filtering the dirty water, unless we treat the source. If we clean the source, the water will naturally become clean.
Kunsang