Smokers are being pushed further into the corner

Jul 30, 2017 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Legislation has been introduced to limit the extent of smoking in public places. However, this is not going down well because all of a sudden, people are talking about their rights. Indeed people have rights, but every right has a responsibility.
People have a right to smoke if they so desire, but others in the neighbourhood also have a right to clean air. I have often heard people, especially women, complaining about coming out of a night club smelling of smoke. Some even complain about smoke getting into their hair and we all know how expensive it is for a woman to protect her hair.
Many years ago when people went to certain places, especially bars, they would be greeted by a haze of cigarette smoke. The need for their entertainment would overshadow the threat to their health, because secondhand smoke is really dangerous.
I travelled on aircraft when people were allowed to smoke on planes. The smokers were asked whether they wanted smoking or non-smoking. Those who wanted a smoker’s row were placed at the back of a plane.
But the time came when the authorities discovered that some air hostesses actually suffered ailments. In the end, no smoking was allowed on any aircraft, regardless of the duration of the flight. That was the law and people accepted it, because to do otherwise was to risk a hefty fine or even jail.
I recall flying to Korea from Guyana. The flight went to Cuba and the next day it left for Shannon airport in Ireland. Then came the long flight to Moscow. All the while nobody could smoke. Flying from Moscow across the then Soviet Union was a long stretch. Within a few hours there was sunset and sunrise. In fact, the sun never disappeared as we were flying over the North Pole.
For sixteen hours or so, there was no smoking and nobody died. Another long flight greeted me on my way to the Falklands. Again, no smoking. Today, it is standard fare that no one smokes on a plane.
In the United States no one smokes in night clubs or restaurants. Indeed, I have been to diners that had a smokers’ section, but these seem to have disappeared. No one smokes in offices or in any enclosed building, unless that building is one’s own home. But there should be no children in it.
In Guyana, people once smoked in vehicles; that is not the case anymore. Neither do they smoke in offices. Smokers were becoming a dying breed. Guyana is now seeking to restrict smoking in places where people assemble. There is also going to be a limitation in the sale of ‘loose’ cigarettes.
I expect the grumbling. Already I saw a protest by some people who sell loose cigarettes. They claim that they have their children to support and should be allowed to do so. The authorities say that cigarettes must be sold in sealed packets.
When you go to public occasions like open air shows at the stadium or the National Park, cigarette smoking would not be allowed. Again, I expect complaints, because some of the people who go to those occasions add marijuana to the party atmosphere.
If the truth be told, in the developed world no one smokes at public functions or in night clubs, or in any place where non-smokers are likely to be. You don’t smoke at bus stops.
I have seen people in the heart of winter leaving their offices to brave the intense cold for a smoke. I have seen people step outside from clubs to smoke on the sidewalks and I have seen people eject their friends who tried to smoke in their vehicles.
Hotel rooms are other no-smoking zones. There are smoke alarms and sprinklers. A friend told me that he happened to lie on his bed and light up when all of a sudden the sprinkler doused him and his cigarette. In Miami, at Embassy Suites, there is a notice that informs the guest that he would have to pay $200 to clean the room should that guest smoke in it.
What does this have to do with Guyana? Everything. The effect of cigarette smoke is costly to the public health system. Heart disease, lung disease and even asthma take a big chunk of the medical bill. Cancer treatment is a killer in more ways than one, and we the taxpayers must foot the bill.
Surprising as it may seem, when we go to the other man’s country we toe the line. We don’t smoke in our relatives’ homes and we surely don’t smoke near to people. We go and we look to see what others do. In that way we are conditioned.
I hear that some clubs offer hookahs—a smoking device that is more communal that a toilet. For that to continue, the club will have to fashion a special enclosed room.
Night club owners are going to complain bitterly. They suddenly see themselves losing customers. But if the truth be told, most of the people who go to night clubs are non-smokers. Besides, the cleanup will be less costly.
The record shows that the amount of money collected from taxes on tobacco do not even cover half the cost of the medical bills accruing from tobacco smoke.
The records of cigarette-related illness in Guyana are not properly kept so we do not know, but we do know the global average, and Guyana would certainly fall into that bracket. Limiting smoking has benefits.
At the personal level, I do not know how a woman can stand her husband’s tobacco breath early in the morning. Such a woman demonstrates love to the highest degree. Then she has to wash his clothes, all smelly. Such a woman is going to welcome this Bill, as I will.

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