Dubai The ban on sale of cigarettes Thursday throughout Dubai was a good symbolic gesture and shows the emirate’s commitment to crack down on smoking, doctors said.
But they said that as a deterrent against smoking it was not very effective because smokers were given advance warning that sale would be stopped for a day at petrol stations and grocery stores. “Smokers would have stocked up the night before,” said one doctor.
People on the social networks as twitter were skeptical over the Dubai ban and made joking comments that it was ineffective.
It was also strange that the Ministry of Health had not taken part in the ban and shops in Abu Dhabi and other emirates were freely selling cigarettes. Ministry officials did not wish to comment why there was not a nation-wide ban.
In Dubai some smokers were caught by surprise by the ban on the World No Tobacco Day yesterday. A woman was heard asking a checkout clerk whether the ban is for forever.
Dubai Municipality has put up poster at popular stores and Eppco stations with the words, “No Tobacco sale for 24 hours”.
Though many shopkeepers said though they lost up to more than Dh100,000 on cigarette sales, they said it was “worth the cause”.
But smaller corner groceries in Dubai were unaware of the ban on sale.
Dubai Municipality gesture was to raise awareness of the hazardous effects of tobacco. The event is meant to encourage abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption for 24 hours.
“We’ve been taking all cigarette packets off display every May 31 since we participated in this campaign three years ago,” Ali Khan, manager for convenience stores at Emarat, told Gulf News. “We do this purposely because once the customers see the cigarettes in the rack behind the cashier, they’ll demand for it.”
“We’re looking at a loss today of more than Dh100,000 across our network in Dubai and the Northern Emirates for the cigarette sales. But this is a social drive that we are doing, it’s not only about compliance,” Khan added.
In other shops, Apsara Supermarket for example, which did not sign up with the municipality’s drive, voluntarily joined the campaign yesterday. The cigarettes were still on the shelves but cashiers had been given standing instructions not to sell them.
“We were given notices by our bosses not to sell cigarettes today. Many have come to buy but we are not giving any exceptions. Even workers who smoke are being advised by management to step out of the building,” a cashier in the supermarket said.
In Eppco, one cashier said some customers tried to bully her and demand that they be sold cigarettes. But she said she just had to explain properly and be firm. Smokers who wanted to buy their packets were able to buy from small stores, however. One sales personnel from one of these shops reasoned: “We are not aware of the World No Tobacco Day. And we were not told we’re not supposed to sell, so we’re selling still.”
The World Health Organisation lists tobacco as the only legally available product that kills one in two regular users who consume it as recommended by its manufacturer. Around the world, one person dies from smoking-related diseases every six seconds.
