Dear Editor,
The new law, which prescribes where smoking is and is not permitted, came into effect on Monday, July 15, 2013. While well intentioned, it leaves a lot to be desired. Various interest groups in the society have been clamouring for different laws, as they affect their own spheres, to be modified, or new ones enacted to no avail. Our comatose lawmakers, however, have now awakened with a vengeance and out of the blue this new smoking law does a Usain Bolt, making it across the finish line before the rest and in near record time. How long have the Rastafarians, for example, been calling for marijuana to be decriminalised?
As I heard it being explained on radio one evening, I gather that smoking is not permitted on a public beach. Does this mean that should a tourist be out on the shoreline alone with God at 5:00 am smoking a cigarette and the act is caught on surveillance cameras, legal action will be taken against him? Interesting.
The last time I checked, smoking marijuana was illegal in Jamaica, yet every single day thousands of pounds are smoked across the island. I recall stopping at a bar one day to buy a cold beer and as I waited to be served observed six young girls, none older than 20 years, lounging around the establishment and playing bingo. Five had spliffs between their lips and as I watched, the sixth was handed hers by the bartender who had one behind the ears. It appears number six was not yet versed in how to roll one. Had I done my civic duty and called the police who were stationed some three miles away to deal with these lawbreakers, would they have turned up? Do the police have the manpower or facilities to cope with the hundreds of smokers who might happen to be in breach of the law at a football match or stage show?
It would be interesting to know what really informed the thinking of the creators of this new law. To be honest, based on our track record and recent events, it would not surprise me to learn that the collection of revenue was the main impetus behind its creation. This reminds me of the increase in traffic ticket fines, which was ostensibly for increasing road safety, but in reality swelled government coffers. Can you imagine how many bribes will now be paid by smokers and owners of establishments alike to avoid penalties when found in breach? I personally overheard a bartender telling a customer that on the instructions of her boss she will no longer be selling cigarettes after her current stock is exhausted. Could this new law be the final straw that breaks the back of the cigarette cash cow?
Robert Mitchell
Box 191
Christiana PO
Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.com
That new no-smoking law
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The new law, which prescribes where smoking is and is not permitted, came into effect on Monday, July 15, 2013. While well intentioned, it leaves a lot to be desired. Various interest groups in the society have been clamouring for different laws, as they affect their own spheres, to be modified, or new ones enacted to no avail. Our comatose lawmakers, however, have now awakened with a vengeance and out of the blue this new smoking law does a Usain Bolt, making it across the finish line before the rest and in near record time. How long have the Rastafarians, for example, been calling for marijuana to be decriminalised?
As I heard it being explained on radio one evening, I gather that smoking is not permitted on a public beach. Does this mean that should a tourist be out on the shoreline alone with God at 5:00 am smoking a cigarette and the act is caught on surveillance cameras, legal action will be taken against him? Interesting.
The last time I checked, smoking marijuana was illegal in Jamaica, yet every single day thousands of pounds are smoked across the island. I recall stopping at a bar one day to buy a cold beer and as I waited to be served observed six young girls, none older than 20 years, lounging around the establishment and playing bingo. Five had spliffs between their lips and as I watched, the sixth was handed hers by the bartender who had one behind the ears. It appears number six was not yet versed in how to roll one. Had I done my civic duty and called the police who were stationed some three miles away to deal with these lawbreakers, would they have turned up? Do the police have the manpower or facilities to cope with the hundreds of smokers who might happen to be in breach of the law at a football match or stage show?
It would be interesting to know what really informed the thinking of the creators of this new law. To be honest, based on our track record and recent events, it would not surprise me to learn that the collection of revenue was the main impetus behind its creation. This reminds me of the increase in traffic ticket fines, which was ostensibly for increasing road safety, but in reality swelled government coffers. Can you imagine how many bribes will now be paid by smokers and owners of establishments alike to avoid penalties when found in breach? I personally overheard a bartender telling a customer that on the instructions of her boss she will no longer be selling cigarettes after her current stock is exhausted. Could this new law be the final straw that breaks the back of the cigarette cash cow?
Robert Mitchell
Box 191
Christiana PO
Manchester
mitcib@yahoo.com
That new no-smoking law
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