Smoking Culture on the Wane in Lebanon

I am happy to report that tobacco ads have totally disappeared from the thousand of billboards of Lebanon. They were banned in 2011, and just a handful were still around then when I visited Lebanon, so it was no surprise now; still, it leaves a satisfying feeling. Also, there did not seem to be anyone breaking the smoking ban inside the airport, unlike what I observed on previous trips.

On Saturday, I was invited to lunch at La Piazza near Downtown Beirut. After 1 PM, people poured in until the place was essentially full. And yet, no one lit up cigarettes. On the way out, I saw a no-smoking sign, and complemented the servant who was seeing us out on this. I would later feel like a fool for doing that when a friend reminded me that the Lebanese government had banned all indoor smoking in public places! (I even raved about it on Facebook at the time!) There was an outcry at first and forecasts of businesses shutting down, just like there had been in Arizona a few years earlier when voters snuffed out smoking in restaurants, bars, and other indoor places. And, just like in Arizona, people got used to it and then welcomed it. Not only did it not hurt business; it just attracted non-smokers who might have otherwise stayed home.

My friend told me that the law is actually being enforced quite well by the government; a remarkable achievement in a country where laws are routinely broken. You can report a rogue smoker to the restaurant manager, and he can call the police. Many people have been busted and fined. People can still still smoke; you see them out on the street by restaurants, smoking in the sun, heat, and traffic. People can still smoke at restaurants with outdoor seating. I noticed that ashtrays inside have no cradles for cigarettes; they're for pumpkin seed shells, nut shells and such; the ones outside do have cradles.

I never thought I'd ever see this in Lebanon. After all, my school yearbooks from the late 1960s and early 70s feature ads by Marlboro, Winston, Kent and such! Both teachers and older students routinely smoked on the campus. It took years, even decades, for smoking to be marginalized in the US. Hopefully Lebanon is going down the same path; just faster.

Next on the agenda is a hefty tax increase on tobacco; it was part of the law but has yet to be implemented.

Now, if only the same can be done with the mayhem that passes for bird "hunting" in Lebanon...