ammonnews.net

Ammon News - IN Jordan, a country where smoking is so popular that motorists can be seen puffing away on miniature water pipes in traffic, the kingdom's government now wants to enforce a Western-style smoking ban in restaurants, cafes and other public places.

The ban, coming from a law passed in 2008 but not fully enforced, also would see the government revoke the licences of all 6000 coffee shops that serve shisha by the end of this year.
But business owners and smokers are criticising the push, saying it goes against the culture of a country where smoking is seen as an attractive sign of manhood and elderly Bedouins roll their own cigarettes in public.

"We are caught between a rock and a hard place whereby the government is trying to force a closure of our businesses," said Mazen Alsaleh, who owns 14 coffee and hookah shops around the country.
"I am not defending the hookah or smoking, but we must defend our investments."

The pastime of smoking shisha - also known as nargile, hubbly bubbly, hookah or by other names across the Middle East - is ingrained in Jordanian culture from the time of the Ottoman Empire.
Mourners receive cigarettes at wakes, while delivery companies only supplying hookahs have sprouted across the country.

The World Health Organisation estimated last year that nearly half of Jordan's men smoke tobacco on a daily basis, while a third of young men do. Women smoke at a much lower rate.

While smoking is culturally embraced, it's also aided by low-cost cigarettes.
A pack of local cigarettes sells at $US2 ($A2.30), while foreign tobacco is slightly more expensive.

Last year, local tobacco manufacturers reduced their prices by up to 15 per cent to compete with cheap cigarettes smuggled in from neighbouring Syria.

Health Ministry statistics that Jordanians spend the equivalent of $US1 billion ($A1.14 billion) annually on tobacco.

Health Minister Ali Hyasat, who is spearheading the effort to enforce the smoking ban, said the measure was meant to "save lives, not businesses."

"This is costing us lives, as our records that many Jordanians die of cancer directly linked to smoking each year, and more than $US1 billion annually on health care programs to treat smokers," Hyasat said.

Enforcing the law started gradually in 2009, with shopping malls and Amman's Queen Alia International Airport first enacting the ban, followed by fast food restaurants.

The law also bans smoking in hospitals, schools, cinemas, libraries, museums, government buildings, public transportation and other places to be determined by the health minister.
The law also prohibits selling tobacco to those under the age of 18, but shop owners have rarely abided by the law.

Violators are subject to imprisonment for up to one month or a fine of up to $US35.
Across the Middle East, there are similar indoor smoking bans in place in Lebanon and some Arab Gulf countries. The United Arab Emirates, the home of Dubai, tightened its own smoking ban earlier this week.

Israel has a smoking ban as well. But often, such rules simply get ignored.