More shameless remarks by Larko

Can’t show you what I’ve got

What would be the first thing you expect to see when you enter a tobacconist’s shop? It is not vegetables, fruit or milk but rather cigarettes, cigars, pipes and other tobacco products. The problem in Nova Scotia is that you are not likely to see those things at a tobacconist’s in Nova Scotia because the province has a silly anti smoking regulation which says that tobacco products must be kept out of sight under the counter.

Bob Gee, with Mader’s Tobacco Store in Kentville, has been charged by a provincial inspector for violations against tobacco laws. Gee comments to the CBC:

Our business is 95 per cent tobacco, and they’re basically telling me by charging me that I’m guilty of doing my job.

Considering that smoking is still legal and so is buying and selling tobacco to adults, you would not think that an adult entering a tobacco store could spontaneously come to buy a pack of cigarettes just because cigarettes are visible in the shop. They probably entered the shop in the first place in the sole purpose of buying fags.

This is a typical piece of legislation which can only have been thought out by bureaucrats and voted for by politicians who have little or no connection with what others call a real life. A government practised by the people for the people would have thrown a bill like this one where it belongs: into a wastepaper basket.

My sympathy

Canadian national broadcaster CBC seems to have been the last bastion of smokers among federal and federally regulated buildings in the country. As from 1st September 2007, the remaining smoking rooms in CBC buildings are going to be closed.

I herewith express my sympathy as a fellow journalist and a fellow smoker to the CBC staff.

Out of sight – out of mind?

WYSIWYG or “What You See IS What You Get” seems to be the reasoning behind regulations that health officials in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia are imposing convenience stores to follow on sales of tobacco. A law taking effect this fall requires store owners to keep tobacco products out of sight in a closed cabinet below or above the counter.

The vendors are less than amused about the new regulations. It costs them money to implement the required changes and causes problems with physical space in the shops. 200 shop owners are gathering for a protest meeting in Dartmouth. Said Atlantic Convenience Stores Association chairman Mike Hammoud to the CBC:

We feel as retailers this has been very rushed through very quickly and we just don’t have the time, so we’re asking for some more time.

The authorities, however, are not even considering to give in, neither on time table nor on compensating the cost to vendors. They suggest that the extra cost should be passed on customers:

“If they are looking for other options that might be something that they would consider,” said Steve Machat, with the Department of Health Promotion, “but the department is not considering compensating vendors for the changes they need to make.”

The obvious goal of this legislation must be to cut down smoking. 22 % of Nova Scotians are smokers, compared to 19 % elsewhere in Canada. These regulations must have been at large adopted by non smokers. A smoker would know that addiction to tobacco has nothing to do with making tobacco products uncomfortable or even more expensive to buy and sell.

It does just not work that way. As a heavy smoker for 38 years I can tell the Nova Scotian government that there is no way I would forget to buy fags just because they are out of sight and more difficult to access at the store. Neither did I spontaneously start to smoke for 38 years ago just because I noticed that cigarettes are being sold by my local vendor.

If I were 12 years today, knowing what I now know about health hazards and addiction, I would probably not start smoking. So any government sincerely aiming at cutting the smoking rate should focus on convincing 12 year old kids that smoking is not a good idea. That is what I tell youngsters almost every day and strangely enough, most of them listen and believe what I say. They take my word for it because they realize that I know what I am talking about.

Intimidating smokers and shop owners has no effect on smoking rates. I would buy my fags even if I had to sing the national anthem standing on one foot to get them at the shop. But if I were a citizen of Nova Scotia, I would vote for a candidate to the provincial parliament, who would be committed to sensible actions to cut smoking rather than this insulting WYSIWYG approach. Adult smokers have the right to be treated as what they are, that is adults.