Lahore (Web Desk): In Pakistan Federal Government has recently decided to put a ban on the sale of unpacked cigarettes. Packed cigarette cases will still be sold.
The local media reported that this ban is going to be put in place on the behalf of Ordinance of Prohibition of Smoking 2002.
A notification in this regard will very soon be issued by the Ministry of Health, most likely before 2016 ends.
All the provinces will be directed in the notification, to chase the recently imposed ban to the letter, through which the sale or consumption of unpacked/open cigarettes will completely be banned throughout the entire country.
Any positive effects cannot be expected from this recent decision taken by the Government.
Under the policy of this ban people will only be obligatory to buy packed cigarette cases instead of unpacked ones, and smoking is still going to be there.
We cannot expect that smoking might just be decreased from the society but only by a mere pinch and only very temporarily, as people who go for unpacked cigarettes will just switch to buying packed cases instead.
Necessarily there is a need to make people aware about menace of smoking from a very young age. Society also has to play its role in curbing the hazards of smoking and the multiple health issues that it causes, be it breathing problems or coughing to something as serious as lung cancer.
There is also the need for strict enforcement of existing laws which ban smoking in public places at the provincial level.
