Morocco likely to adopt public smoking ban
2008-07-29
The Moroccan Senate is reviewing an anti-smoking bill that would ban smoking in certain public places and prohibit the sale of cigarettes to people under 18.
By Sarah Touahri for Magharebia in Rabat – 28/07/08
 [Sarah Touahri] A draft law that would ban smoking in a number of public places made its way through the lower house of Parliament last week. The bill is likely to become law in October. |
Morocco appears set to toughen its anti-smoking legislation, with the lower house of Parliament unanimously approving a bill on Wednesday (July 23rd) which would ban smoking in public places and bar the sale of cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18. The Senate is expected to pass the measure during its October session.
According to a statement issued last Thursday by the legislative body, the bill is aimed at reinforcing the legal measures to prevent tobacco smoking, filling the legal gap that the absence of sanctions represented, and protecting citizens' health, particularly that of youths and minors. Fine enforcement will also generate additional financial resources for the government.
"The law is in the national interest. It will be passed by senators without delay and then enforced immediately," Istiqlal Party President Latifa Bennani Smires told Magharebia.
She explained that the law effectively limits the harmful effects of smoking by introducing penalties for public smoking and cutting tobacco advertising.
The new law will affect public buildings, offices, schoolyards, and cafés and restaurants with floor areas of no more than 50 square metres.
The bill also imposes fines. Smoking in a public place will incur a fine of 100 dirhams and double that for a repeat offence. The penalty will rise to 500 dirhams for those in charge of public places who themselves break the law.
Fines of up to 10,000 dirhams will be incurred by cigarette manufacturers if packs fail to carry health warnings.
Under the new law, sales of cigarettes to minors will incur a fine of 2,000 dirhams and 5,000 dirhams for repeat offences. Vendors will also risk losing their tobacco sale licences.
Half of all proceeds from the fines will go to NGOs working to raise public awareness of the dangers of smoking.
The new initiative, which many hope is sufficiently severe to convince people to stub out their habit en masse, has drawn widespread praise from healthcare professionals who point to nationwide studies indicating the severity of the smoking problem in Morocco.
According to a survey by the Ministry of Health, nearly 35% of men over age 20 are smokers. Another survey has shown that over 15% of schoolchildren between 13 and 15 years of age are smokers. The age at which they begin varies, with almost 13% starting by the age of 15.
"It's high time they passed a law like this," Dr. Sellam Mbarki told Magharebia. "The number of cancer patients is rising because of tobacco. Some of them are passive smokers and suffer the consequences of being in a smoke-filled environment. We now know of a whole host of serious diseases caused by tobacco," he said.
Still, the bill has met with vociferous opposition from some quarters. Among the most outspoken critics of the proposed legislation are the owners of cafés and restaurants, who are anxious that the new law will hurt their businesses.
Selmane Bhiri, who runs a café, anticipates that his business will plummet when the law is enforced. "80% of my customers are smokers. When the law comes into force, I’m expecting my turnover to fall by 90%," he complained.
Some smokers are less pessimistic. 15-year-old Mourad says that the law will not cause him any problems because he will stock up from retailers: "The public smoking ban doesn’t bother me because I smoke in secret anyway."
"As for getting hold of cigarettes," he continues, "I’ll be able to get them from the young people who find work selling cigarettes on street corners."
With more than 15 billion cigarettes smoked every year, Morocco is one of the largest tobacco-consuming countries throughout the Mediterranean basin.
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Jalal Posted 2008-07-29
It's about time...business have nothing to worry about, one just need to look at what happened in the US and Europe after such regulations have been put in place, Business increased since more people are now comfortable patronising these businesses.
Moroccan Posted 2008-07-29
Good Morning our politicians, it is time to wake up and ban smoking in public areas and selling tobacco to minors. Whee were you sleeping?
moe Posted 2008-07-30
This is not the only thing they need to do. Moreover, this is unenforceable: the police and the inspectors are too corrupt in order to enforce these laws. I can foresee the abuse! Our morals should be to clean our streets, hospitals and mindsets before we start marching to the beat of the West. Widespread illiteracy and under the table sales are allowed, they want to apply this law. Truly, our leaders are out of step with the reality of the masses.
Chahed Posted 2008-07-31
Hello Moe, I am with you when you call for our streets and hospitals and so on be cleaned, but this should not prevent us from making progress wherever we can. In this regard, I do not agree with copying the laws from another country where the purchasing power is incomparable to ours and implementing fines that have nothing to do with our reality. Likewise, they pretend to think about our well-being without ever asking our opinions. They think of us as adults when it suits them and they take us for illiterate morons when it strikes their fancy. Coming up with fines that are more than our minimum wage is impermissible. Another point that needs to be seriously addressed is the enforcement of these laws. In the end, I ask our dear congressmen why they still have not tackled the issue of parking meters in Casablanca. In Rabat, one hour costs one dirham and you can divide it into half-hour increments -- €”justice has had its say. In Casablanca, an hour costs two dirhams, and you cannot pay for an hour and a half, for example. Mr Minister Chakib Benmoussa explained that it has already been a year since putting a boot-lock on cars in order to stop them from moving was made illegal.
بيداحbaidah agadir inzegane Posted 2008-07-31
The reality of young people between smoking, drugs addiction and the policy of anesthetisation. Smoking different types of cigarettes, smoking and drugs have become the most effective way adopted by our young people who have a defeatist feeling in order to get rid of the sourness of reality. They consider them as a solution which will make them forget their daily problems. However, this is just the beginning of the problem and not a solution. It is the beginning of the life of debauchery which has serious consequences. They ignore them voluntarily in order to run away from reality. They should rather face it with all their means instead of creating limited solutions which drive them to choose addiction. They think mistakenly that it is the road of salvation from the frustrations they live. They voluntarily or involuntarily ignore that this increases the degree of frustration and deepens the crisis. The reality of our young people today is a sad reality. How can a category which is the pillar of society choose the road of loss by falling in mazes under the pretext of forgetting reality? This just complicates things. These are not young people we are aspiring to see. We want young people who have a firm determination to confrontation and a strong ambition to reach goals. We want young people who struggle to make achievements, who defy difficulties. We want young people who aspire to a better future. We don'€™t want young people who are controlled according to a prefabricated policy which makes for us young people as they want them to be. We want young people who make themselves. Worse than this is the wave of anaesthetization policy which had invaded them but this time with powerful narcotics that remove the brain and totally wash it. Under this policy our young people are indulged in secondary matters which donâ€'t require all this great importance accorded to them. On the other hand, their intention is diverted from major issues which are very important for them and for the future of this country. The policy of anaesthetization has borne its fruits. It has used the fragility of the personality of our young people today who focus their interests on sports, music and art as part of personal inclinations which are encouraged in our country. Now they represent the core of the interest of young people. It is high time for our young people to wake up from the coma of the virtual world which they imagine by stopping this bad habit they are addicted to. They should be aware of the anaesthetization policy which invades them and takes them away from the current reality. Reforming the nation depend on the reform of young people who are its mirror.
حسن بوبكر ي Posted 2008-07-31
All the diseases which invade the human body or the body of the society in general need drugs and treatments at the beginning of the disease. This is what the medical science says. But if the disease has spread in the body, this is another matter. It is a matter which requires treatment, but what kind of treatment? It is the complex treatment. This is our Morocco, our nation today. Today 89% of the Moroccans smoke and the same rate of women more or less smoke. The generation of values has disappeared. It is the generation of colonization. Only a small perishable number of them remain. The problem of smoking has become a minor problem. Its major rival which has swept many young people is "Shuri"€ and "€œmixed cigarette"€ which plays with minds in second. These diseases and addiction to them in smoking or other methods were transmitted to them through education: watching, tasting and then addiction which is serious. It is known that senior officials in the state were and are still smoking in front of their citizens on TV. The smoke of cigarettes is seeing by young generations. Officials have become an example to be followed. They are also taken as an example in any debate about the hazards of the cigarette. If you bring a thousand arguments, you won't convince them with the sincerity of what you claim because a big number of senior officials smoke in front of them. They don't care about the consequences and impacts on our sons, today'€™s young people and tomorrow'€™s men. Now that it is too late, Moroccans try to ban smoking or make orders from outside, which means outside the same smoker and same conviction to stop smoking by decree. Glory be to God. Here we must remind that when the Moroccans needed a voice or arm to fight the colonizer, their chants were accompanying their ambitions and discourses as well. They were called men of resistance for example or the men of mountains, lions¦When Morocco got its independence, everything has changed. The real intentions have emerged but they don'€™t fit with the citizen to be a lion. He should be a puppet who has no opinion, just listens, obeys and executes according to their ambitions. The teacher of education and depravity was Haja Hamdaoiya and Hamid Zaher, now it is the turn of Cheb Khaled¦
حسن مناش Posted 2008-08-02
Traditions, customs, values, addiction and dependence are all part of education. Morocco has so much neglected the education of its sons… it is not Western, Arab nor Muslim. Smoking enters within the context of lack of this education. At the beginning of independence, there was an education which enhances values and behaviour. As time passes by, Moroccans have neglected their past and values. This has brought us evils. We can get rid of their consequences only after a long time. One of their consequences is smoking for a high percentage of young people and even women. In the past, smoking was indecent for men. But today, it is fashion and an image of modernization for both sexes. We don’t think that legal measures will bear any fruit in a generation which is corrupt morally. Only a few have any concern about morals. If you haven’t heard and experienced this, you may not believe it. It is a depraved behaviour which you find in the street, in clubs, cafes and even inside the educational institutes. So what are other places which should be respected, except mosques?
Jamal Morelli Posted 2008-08-03
Just the kind of news that could cheer up the spirits of any health concerned Moroccan... ...Absolutely fantastic.
boras Posted 2008-08-04
Fantastic news! By doing this Morocco is leading the Arab world into applying what we already know into actual legislation and that is "Smoking is bad for your health and is a total waste of money!"
Aziz Naji Posted 2008-08-12
15 billion cigarettes per day? So 5,000 per person per day? LOL
gol Posted 2008-08-14
Making a law that punishes those who smoke and not those who want to preserve their health is an excellent initiative. The state cannot pretend to want to fight against cancer while leaving second-hand smoke to lay waste. Indeed, it is better to prevent than to fight.
المهندس/حسن البهكلي Posted 2008-09-03
An important decision which comes very late. But better late than never.
SAID Posted 28 days ago
I agree with you: this ban is more or less logical with the exception that Morocco did this because France stuck its nose in. And, that is a shame: what works in France does not necessarily work in Morocco. Be more creative and, above all else, more independent!
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