Sumut to Ban Smoking
March 27, 2009 by Medan Indonesia
Filed under Living
North Sumatra plans to issue new Smoking Regulations
The government of North Sumatra (Pemprovsu – Pemerintah Provinsi Sumatera Utara) plans to issue a new Local Regulation (Perda – Peraturan Daerah) to Ban Smoking in North Sumatra. It is seeking the support from the parliament of North Sumatra (DPRD Sumut) to pass the new regulation.
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This is supported by the Director of Public Information on Narcotics in North Sumatra (Direktur Pusat Informasi Masyarakat Anti Narkoba Sumatera Utara – PIMANSU) Zulkanain Nasution, who stated that the dangers and effect of smoking has become increasingly worrying that causes health problems and that Smoking is the gateway to the use of Drugs. In general, narcotics users are smokers, although not all smokers are narcotics users.
He further added that without any regulations on smoking, it makes it easy for anyone to obtain cigarettes, not only for adults, but teenagers and children as well. This is due to the easy access to cigarettes including the many advertisements and billboards that promotes cigarettes and smoking.
Currently, there are no restrictions on smoking in public places, people are free to smoke anywhere without taking into considerations that the smoke from cigarettes are dangerous to the health of non-smokers (passive smoking) around. Passive smokers are exposed to higher risk of health problems.
Zulkanain hopes that the new regualtion will be passed and be implemented consistently with detailed restrictions such as:
- age restrictions on obtaining cigarettes
- smoking and non-smoking zones
- type of advertising allowed
- legal places to obtain cigarettes
- the fines for breaking the law etc.
Of course, it is also important to socialize the new regualtion before implementing it to ensure that the public knows about the new law and that they will not have any excuse of not being informed and that law enforcement officers should ensure that the new regulation will not be misused as a means of profiting from the public.
The government is committed to improve public health to protect the public from the dangers of smoking especially the danger of passive smoking to non-smokers that are exposed to higher risk of health problems.
Will the new regulation affect your life, business or habbit? Feel free to comment below 
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This is good news!
My relative living in Medan suffer from lung cancer from passive smoking!
Which cannot be treated.
No matter how much health warning the government puts out. Smokers still smokes and most not considering those around them
That’s a great news even tough I doubt the rule will be observed.
Last year my husband and I went to Medan to visit out relatives. He got asthma attack from inhaling the smokes. Everywhere we go, people smoked like no other days. Those suckers are really inconsiderate. Why can’t they just swallow the smoke and not passing the smoke to other people. Ohhh well, let see…
on the contrary, The straits times reports:
BEIJING – OFFICIALS in a county in central China have been told to smoke nearly a quarter million packs of locally made cigarettes annually or risk being fined, state media reported on Monday.
The Gong’an county government in Hubei province has ordered its staff to puff their way through 230,000 packs of Hubei-produced cigarette brands a year, the Global Times said.
Departments that fail to meet their targets will be fined, according to the report.
‘The regulation will boost the local economy via the cigarette tax,’ said Chen Nianzu, a member of the Gong’an cigarette market supervision team, according to the paper.
The measure could also be a ploy to aid local cigarette brands such as Huanghelou, which are under severe pressure from competitors in neighbouring Hunan province, according to the paper.
China has 350 million smokers, of whom a million die of smoking-related diseases every year.
More than half of all male doctors in China smoke, but the government is now trying harder to get them to kick the habit in order to set an example for others, state media reported recently. — AFP