Decree No. 2: What will the smokers be fined for

These already include HEALTH care, cultural, educational, sports, trade and consumer services, public catering (except for those who have the right to sell tobacco products and ventilation systems). it is not allowed to smoke at stations, airports, underpasses, in all types of public transport (except for specially allocated places), stairwells, elevators and other auxiliary premises of the apartment stock.

 

Now the "forbidden" list will be replenished by children's playgrounds, public transport stops, summer terraces of cafes and restaurants, city beaches, as well as cars with children under 14 years old.

 

Many bans have touched on electronic cigarettes, the harm of which was also repeatedly warned by physicians, but there were no restrictions on them as on tobacco products. The decree prohibits the display of electronic smoking fluids in display cases, advertising of electronic cigarettes and their "consumables", as well as their sale to minors.

 

According to the statistics, currently almost 28% of Belarusians over 16 years of age like to smoke (only 10% take a cigarette from time to time, while most of them are involved in this addiction). The state program "People's Health and Demographic Security of the Republic of Belarus" sets a goal to reduce the prevalence of tobacco smoking to 24.5% by 2020, which should also be facilitated by a new decree.

 

The correspondent of Vitebskie Vesti inquired about the hopes that the medical professions put on the legislative innovation in the fight against smoking and how the restrictive measures will be implemented in practice by the law enforcement agencies.

 

The problem cannot be solved by half

 

- Measures taken, restrictions on tobacco public service advertising are essential for those who are not yet addicted to tobacco. The less they encounter smokers on the streets, the more tobacco products are hidden from view, the less likely they are to want to take on a cigarette. We also hope that the decree will have an effect on those who think about quitting - it will be easier to give up cigarettes than to find out where to buy them and where to smoke them. In addition, young people will not see negative examples everywhere. It is believed that with the toughening of the anti-tobacco legislation, 20% less people will smoke than they could potentially be," says Anatoly Shapiro, HEAD of the organizational and methodological advisory department of the regional centre for psychiatry and narcology.

 

In Europe, the number of smokers is decreasing due to the harsh conditions in which they are placed. According to doctors, the problem cannot be solved with half measures, as well as in the treatment of those who suffer from nicotine addiction.

 

- People are mainly focused on the quick effect. On average, 100-120 people annually turn to us for short-term methods against nicotine addiction. The number of long-term therapy patients is growing by several dozen per month, they are people with a wide request, they do not just want to quit smoking, but also something to change in life, - says the head of the narcology department of the regional center of psychiatry and narcology, Irina Shchelkunova.

 

If a smoker is fined

 

Under the new requirements, law enforcement agencies will strengthen their tobacco control efforts.

 

According to Semyon Kolesnichenko, a senior inspector of the Department of Prevention of Law Enforcement and Prevention of Internal Affairs of the regional executive committee, about 2 thousand people were brought to administrative responsibility for smoking in prohibited places last year, while for five months of 2019 - more than 1.1 thousand people in the region. Most of the protocols were drawn up at the railway stations in Vitsebsk, Orsha, Polotsk.

 

As before, the offender will have to pay a fine of 0.1 to 4 BVs (depending on whether he's previously been held administratively liable, including for smoking), but the smokers won't have to hope for a warning for the first time, a protocol will be drawn up immediately.

 

- It is also important to note that parents, whose child under 16 years old was arrested for smoking, will have to pay a fine of up to 10 basic units," said Semion Kolesnichenko.

 

The employees of internal affairs, railway, passenger car and electric transport, as well as transport inspection can still be punished with a ruble for the appearance of a cigarette in the wrong place. WECs have been removed from the associations of owners, as well as the function of drawing up protocols for smoking in the entrances. Now it is the responsibility of the police.

 

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Today the state together with health care, with the support of law enforcement agencies and all interested services intends to form a negative public attitude towards smoking, thereby reducing the prevalence of tobacco use and, consequently, diseases caused by bad habits among our compatriots. After all, tobacco provokes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (young people are particularly at risk), exacerbates asthma, reduces resistance to various infectious diseases, ranging from acute respiratory infections to the most serious diseases.