AS Malaysia aims to be smoke free by 2045, the Health Ministry has mapped out a year-by-year plan to reduce the prevalence of tobacco.
The ministry’s proposal to increase the price of cigarettes from RM17 to RM21.50 is a move in the right direction.
The single most effective measure to control tobacco is by taxation.
This is because higher prices will make cigarettes unaffordable to young people.
The World Health Organisation proposes that the tax imposed on cigarettes should be at least 75 per cent of the retail price.
Many say increasing the tax on tobacco will lead to increased sales of illicit cigarettes. Customs officials should step up checks and surveillance to stop smuggling.
Another measure to stop smoking is by raising the legal age for buying and smoking tobacco products from 18 to 21.
Those between 10 and 23 years are at a vulnerable period and at an impressionable age.
They can become addicted and become lifelong smokers.
Nicotine in cigarettes is an addictive substance and nearly all smokers become addicted as adolescents, with between 80,000 and 100,000 children picking up the habit every day around the world.
If we can stop the young from smoking at this age, they are less likely to smoke when they are older. But telling 10-year-old children that they will get cancer when they are 50 or a heart attack when they are 60 because of smoking makes little sense to them.
Smoking and non-smoking youth have the same level of knowledge about the dangers of smoking.
However, youth who choose to smoke believe the habit makes them cool.
Reducing the number of smokers can also be achieved when the number of shops selling cigarettes is limited.
Most importantly, cigarettes should not be sold in eateries, coffee shops and restaurants.
Many coffee shops and restaurants have cigarette display showcases behind the pay counters to entice customers. This should be removed.
The availability of cigarettes in eateries and coffee shops only encourages smokers to light up.
Smoking should also be banned in eateries, coffee shops, restaurants and at all rest and recreational areas of highways. Similarly, no-smoking zones should be extended to food courts.
Samuel Yesuiah, Seremban, Negri Sembilan