Tunisia bans cigarettes in public spaces

Does changing smoking behaviour (or any addictive behaviour) by force work? To me the answer is a definitive no.

These days Tunisians decided that the anti-smoking law they passed in 1998 must now be enacted. Leaving aside the issue of why it takes 12 years to enforce a law in our country (?!!), I think we should be critical of the fact that 1700 policemen, all chronic smokers I bet, have been mobilised to discipline and persecute more than half of the population of this country.

I do not smoke and I find it extremely annoying when people around me smoke without my permission. In Tunisia, non-smokers are especially marginalised as there are very few recreational spaces which are smoke-free.

Although until recently I supported a total ban on cigarettes, when I think about it I realise that such a prohibition should not be imposed for three main reasons.

- First, tobacco mediates many social interactions and fulfils an important economic function. Banning it overnight will have a negative impact on our economic activity.

- Second, people who are suddenly forced out of a habit will usually find substitutes for it rather than quit it altogether. My hunch is that a ban on tobacco will increase obesity figures, so we might actually be swapping one major public health problem for another.

- Third, tobacco is one of those addictive things which can cause a great deal of personal frustration when their availability is reduced (Ramadan is a typical example). Many Tunisians - smokers in particular- are rather impatient and easily irritable. Starving them of their cigarettes will only fuel anti-social behaviour.

To me smoking should be regulated, but not in the way the government has decided to act. A more appropriate course of action would be to impose heavier taxes on on cigarettes, including local ones. The law should also be amended, so that public outlets such as cafés, hair salons and publinets are offered financial incentives to change their design into bounded ‘smoking' and a ‘smoke-free’ spaces. These incentives may include substantial tax reductions or better access to investment funds. As for the habit of smoking in general, I believe that it is symptomatic of the failure of our education system to produce individuals who are aware that their health in their own responsibility not someone else's. We also need better forms of school campaigning which move away from the current emphasis on the idea that 'smoking causes cancer' to a critical investigation of what makes a young man or woman become addicted to cigarettes in the first place.

If you have any suggestions, I’d like to hear them too.