Tobacco.org

Tobacco, state funding stole the show 

PARLIAMENT- “Tobacco Control Act” and “state funding” were perhaps two topics that received much prominence in the media and Parliament last year. . . .

As for the tobacco control act, it re-featured in the Parliament, just over a year after it was endorsed during the fifth session in 2010. That too as an urgent bill, which required passage in the same session unlike other bills.

Within a year of its implementation, close to 80 individuals were penalised, almost half the number having to serve a prison term. Series of online discussions ensued, some mainstream media, especially print, took a radical stand on the issue and had some groups submitting petitions to the government.

Government returned with a proposal to amend about nine sections of the Act. The end result was a liberalised bill, with increased permissible import amount of tobacco and its products, and much more relaxed penalties.

It was understood the new Act would not be applicable to those, who were already charged under the old one, but would stand to benefit those, whose cases were still under trial or pending.

Coming to the rescue, however, was His Majesty granting royal pardon to 16 people, who were convicted under the previous Act.

It was a big lesson learnt. For the lawmakers to consider a world of views before endorsing such laws, for implementing agencies to create enough awareness, and the public to learn and stay abreast of the laws affecting them.

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• EDITORIAL: Lessons to take from the tobacco Act 

So what have we learnt from the Tobacco Control Act that was passed vehemently, implemented rigidly, amended remorsefully and decided unanimously?

It showed us how ignorant many of us are when it comes to keeping ourselves abreast with laws that affect us.

Many who were imprisoned initially were those caught unaware of such a legislation the Parliament passed.

Agencies the Act held responsible for creating awareness and educating people about the law continued to fall short long after it incarcerated many for finding themselves on the other side of the law.

Prisons began filling up more quickly than expected . . .

The biggest lesson of all is for our legislators to, while considering disparate views from the people, should not give into the domain of their hearts, but mull over the longterm consequences the laws they pass will have on the people today and in future.

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• New tobacco Act will benefit 19 

While the amended Tobacco Control Act might have come in a bit too late for 63 people already sentenced under the previous one, it stands to benefit 19 others.

Judges have further clarified that the amended law will apply ex post facto or retrospectively for those whose cases remain undecided.

Of the 84 people who fell prey to the previous Act between 2010 and 2011, five have appealed to higher courts following judgments from the lower ones and 14 cases are still under trial .

“Cases still under trial and pending will benefit from the amended tobacco Act,” a judge said.

For the rest, judges said since their cases have already been decided, there was no appeal and no retrospective application of the new law.

Their only appeal, judges said, was to the King who had the authority to grant amnesty, pardon and reduction of sentences.

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• Can new tobacco Act apply retroactively? 

Although some people caught under the first Act with permissible quantity are serving prison terms, more recent cases saw those nabbed being allowed to pay in lieu of prison term under the new regulations the government introduced to ease the penalties.

Of the 84 cases, 14 are under trial and five have appealed to higher courts and are awaiting judgment.

Assembly legislative committee chairperson Ugyen Wangdi said while the judiciary had the power of interpreting laws, he wondered if it could decide whether a law could be applied retroactively.

“Probably the Tobacco Control Board might have to write a letter to the judiciary should they wish the new Act to apply retroactively,” he said.

During the joint sitting of the Parliament yesterday, opposition’s Damchoe Dorji said he saw another legal peril within the amended Act that could still throw people behind bars.

He said the terms purchase and possess needed to be clearly defined and subsequently their penalties, which in the former’s case was a mere misdemeanour and for possession, fourth degree felony.

“By the time a person buys a tobacco or its product and it reaches his or her pocket, it becomes his or her possession,” he said. “The person is then liable to face a more severe penalty.”

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EDITORIAL: Bringing balance to a bill 

Most of us would be smugglers! A smoker in a group discussing the Tobacco Control Act leisurely remarked. . . .

Those closely following the debate in the parliament are indirectly pressurising MPs by calling them to use their “wisdom” and “intelligence” as the “best elected” to make the law more reasonable and enforceable. Some members are suggesting that the Act had the support of local leaders. The debate here is not about what kind of support the act is receiving, but if the penalty it prescribes is logical.

However, the discussions are moving in the right direction, as the Assembly removed some sections that brought down the offense of bringing in or being found with tobacco products to a misdemeanour from a fourth degree felony. The word “smuggling”, whose interpretation has resulted in locking up up to 40 people behind bars, was also removed.

Discussions on the Tobacco amendment Bill are closely followed, so will be its implementation. The Act was not effective where it should have been. There are still no designated smoking places in public spaces, while the restrictions have only resulted in a thriving black market. The Assembly’s proposal to increase the permissible limit will not help.

A perfect Act to suit both who use tobacco while imposing the ban of sale of tobacco would be difficult, but the general expectation is that the Act should not be too strict to criminalise smokers or those who chew tobacco.

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• Tobacco amendments up for joint sitting 

A joint committee comprising members from both the National Assembly and the National Council sat together yesterday to settle their differences on the tobacco control amendment bill.

The consensus they reach will be up for deliberation at the joint sitting today at the Parliament.

While that’s that, a few within the civil service like those among assembly members said they smelt a rat in the way the council members removed some of the most crucial provisions of the tobacco control law.

While that has had the assembly members scathing about it, the council’s legislative committee members, in particular, have come in for a flak.

“They either want to further soften the tobacco law beyond what the assembly members did or they’re looking for another bargain,” a senior civil servant said.

Council members, during their discussions of the bill on January 16, had refrained from discussing in detail, the penalties they removed from those the bill prescribed in varying degrees depending on the nature of offences, in this case, the amount of tobacco and its products a person brought into the country.

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MISHRA: Bhutan's Tobacco Politics 

At a time when the rulers are dreaming of creating Bhutan as the only country of zero tobacco consumption in a few years, tobacco products are already popping up as the most lucrative and profit-making deals in the black market. The government claims that it has mobilised all the administrative units throughout the nation for effective application of the tobacco law, but is not free from public allegation – the law enforcement body has failed to apply "no smoking" rules on bureaucrats, ministers, security forces and foreign diplomats as their VIP vehicles go unchecked all the times.

On average, at least five cases violating the tobacco act are reported monthly in Bhutan. From the time the law came into effect since January, altogether 59 persons including three non-Bhutanese have been charged of possession, sale or smuggling of tobacco products. Of them, 10 have been convicted of smuggling and jailed. If the same trend continues or upswings even after amending the existing law, Bhutan will unquestionably label thousands of its own citizens as "tobacco criminals", setting yet another unique record in the world. By that time the country will have already sent the highest number of citizens into prisons at least for one to five years! Thus, logical amendment of the stringent tobacco law should be the current debate for the Thinley's government.

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• Tobacco Control Act up for appraisal 

Eighth Parliament Session Parliament has yet to decide whether or not to take up the amendment of the Tobacco Control Act, as an urgent bill, in its upcoming winter session.

Since its enforcement in January this year, the controversial Act has led to the imprisonment of more than 30 people.

The Cabinet proposed the amendment of the Act as an urgent bill. . . .

He said the amendment proposed had more to do with removing ambiguities related to offence and penalties under the Act.

The speaker, however, said they received petitions from people, who preferred amendment of the Act, as well as those who were against it.

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• Smokers hope Bhutan's young king will give them a break  

Activists in Bhutan are hoping their young king – a man known for his fondness for the occasional cigarette – will enter a controversy that has gripped the country and use royal powers to free a number of people sent to jail after being convicted under tough anti-smoking legislation.

Earlier this year, the authorities in the Himalayan kingdom famed for both its natural beauty and its adoption of the principle of gross national happiness (GNH), found themselves in the middle of a row after a Buddhist monk was jailed for three years after being convicted of failing to pay duty on £2 worth of chewing tobacco. 23-year-old Sonam Tshering, who was carrying sachets of the tobacco in his pocket, was jailed even though he said he was unaware of the anti-smuggling law.

Since then, dozens more have been arrested and up to ten people imprisoned, triggering a campaign against the law that has forced the government to reconsider. Yet, even if the legislation is changed it is unclear what will happen to those people already behind bars

Campaigners say a pardon from King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who was crowned in 2008, is their only hope.

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In Bhutan, pursuit of happiness is a tough mountain to climb  

This is Gross National Happiness — or GNH — at work in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a country determined to hold on to its ancient values even as it modernizes, to preserve its environment even as its economy grows and to prove to the world that there is more to life than money.

The term was coined by the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in 1972 in an apparently off-the-cuff remark to a journalist. . . .

But there is a more fundamental objection that strikes at the problem of making happiness a national goal. In Bhutan, some people are complaining that the government has no right to decide what makes them happy — not least when it banned smoking and made possession of cigarettes or tobacco a jailable offense in 2010.

When a Buddhist monk was arrested and sentenced to three years in jail for possession of $2 to $3 worth of tobacco, even the normally quiescent Bhutanese rebelled. GNH was nicknamed “Gross National Harassment,” and a Facebook campaign helped crystallize the opposition. Although about 60 people are in prison, the government has promised to amend the law.

“The smoking law is the overzealous Bhutanese mind-set at work,” said Kinley Tshering, a media consultant and editor who started the Facebook campaign.

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• Facebook campaign may herald deeper changes in Bhutan  

More than 50 people have been jailed over the law, which allows police with sniffer dogs to raid homes in search of illegally imported tobacco and makes holding as much as a carton of 200 cigarettes a jailable offence.

Angry, Tshering decided to form a Facebook page, a digital protest unheard of in this Himalayan kingdom of 700,000 people wedged in between India and China.

Within months, the page had several thousand followers and was the talk of the town, signaling how a younger generation is embracing social media and democratic rights, confidently challenging an established order of elderly and mostly conservative leaders.

"Facebook was important. It opened the floodgates for open criticism of the government," said opposition leader Tshering Tobgay. "People feel the need to be more vocal. Only two years ago, criticism - constructive or not - was quite anonymous."

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No more to baby-sit tobacco contraband  

The Supreme Court issued a circular to all courts across the country on October 3, stating its officials will not have to escort tobacco products tried in their court for disposal anymore.

This follows the notification, issued by Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency (BNCA) on September 13, which mandated concerned court officials not only to escort the tobacco products, but also hand it over individually to the committee, before watching it burn while being incinerated.

The Supreme Court's circular stated that a court's duty is to dispense justice, and any contraband that is brought during the trial should be handed over to whoever prosecutes the case, either police or officials from Office of the Attorney General.

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• Be happy, no butts, Bhutan's smokers told  

In the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu, a street vendor offering snacks and drinks is secretly selling cigarettes to two customers - a transaction that could put him in jail for five years.

In hushed tones, the young men ask for a packet of 10 and the contraband is handed over wrapped in paper and hastily shoved inside the large pouch at the front of their traditional tunics.

"You can find them all over, but you need to know someone," one of the buyers said as he scuttled away. "It's dangerous though. He (the seller) could land in jail."

Anyone in Bhutan selling tobacco or found with cigarettes that have not been declared to customs has committed a non-bailable offence that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Bhutan, an insular and isolated Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China, brought in the strictest anti-smoking laws in the world this year in a bid to stub out the damaging habit. . . .

Known as the Tobacco Control Act, the legislation does not make smoking illegal, but it restricts smokers to private use of a maximum of 200 grams of tobacco and 200 cigarettes per month that can be legally imported.

Users have to keep the customs receipts to prove that duties of up to 200 percent have been paid.

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Be happy, no butts, Bhutan's smokers told 

"You can find them all over, but you need to know someone," one of the buyers said as he scuttled away. "It's dangerous though. He (the seller) could land in jail."

Anyone in Bhutan selling tobacco or found with cigarettes that have not been declared to customs has committed a non-bailable offence that carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Bhutan, an insular and isolated Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China, brought in the strictest anti-smoking laws in the world this year in a bid to stub out the damaging habit.

The sale of tobacco in Buddhist-majority Bhutan was already banned, as was smoking in public places, but the new law sought to crack down on smuggling by introducing a prison term for offenders.

Known as the Tobacco Control Act, the legislation does not make smoking illegal, but it restricts smokers to private use of a maximum of 200 grams of tobacco and 200 cigarettes per month that can be legally imported.

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• EDITORIAL: Taking stock of the tobacco act  

This should be a good week for all those who have been lobbying hard to amend the tobacco control act, if not for the 60 people or so who have been arrested so far for 'smuggling' - quite a number have been jailed - since the act was enforced eight months ago.

The prime minister, during the 16th meet the press forum on Thursday, announced the government would propose discussing the Act, as an urgent bill, in the coming session of parliament this winter. . . .

What amendments may be brought to the act in coming session of parliament remains to be seen, but the urban voices that have dominated this controversy feel the penalties and punishments are too harsh for the crime committed. This becomes glaring, when those that have hoodwinked Bhutan and society at large get away with nothing.

Another important aspect that has emerged from the tobacco control saga is the awareness of laws among the public. As one civil servant in the east recently pointed out, one reason for so many people getting locked up, including an 81-year man, may be no awareness.

As representatives of the people, the MPs must convey the will of the people, and a large proportion of Bhutanese, who live in rural Bhutan just don't want anything to do with tobacco. If possible, they would probably want consumption banned altogether.

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