Smoking fever seems to have gripped this country, and it is sparing no one. Every home in the Kingdom is plagued by this menace. Just for the record, Saudi Arabia has the fourth largest population of smokers in the world. And this in a country that thinks of itself as the cradle of Islam, and despite fatwas from senior scholars banning the sale and use of tobacco.
We all agree on the health hazards resulting from smoking. We all agree that enacting legislation is one thing, but enforcing and putting it to practice is something else. Take the decision to ban smoking in airports and government buildings. This is the most striking example of a law without teeth. In the absence of a strong will to enforce the decisions and carry out the prescribed punishment the law can easily be broken.
Smoking airline staff are a common sight at our airports. They feel no shame in doing this. Some of the customs and passport officers smoke while on duty, in front of everyone, young and old, men and women. It is as if the smoking ban in such places is being treated as no more than mere advice, not a law that has to be enforced.
Civil servants smoke all day long in their offices in total disregard to the royal decree banning smoking in public offices. I expect that the only government body that strictly enforces the ban is the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
The number of smokers is on the rise because we have never been serious about fighting this menace. Smokers should be accorded the treatment they deserve; civilized countries put them in tiny smoke-filled glass boxes at airports. The priority should be for non-smokers to inhale fresh clean air while smokers are kept in remote places at airports and in the darkest corners of restaurants.
Besides the SR12 billion that we annually pay to international tobacco companies, a fortune is being spent on treating patients suffering from tobacco-related diseases. Our last hope remains in hiking tax on imported tobacco to record levels, and spend the money we make on cancer research centers.
