The smoking ban law enters into force today in accordance with Law 174 and Shisha cafe owners in Antelias seem determined to be exempted from the law as they organized a sit-in today calling for amendments. [Link]
As I stated in my previous post, Arguile is the main problem in Lebanon not the cigarette and the government should have dealt with this matter more carefully. Antelias has more than 15 Shisha cafes in one street with few of them having outdoor areas.
I find it hard to believe that shisha is a bigger issue than cigarettes in Lebanon. There is no way people smoke shisha more than cigarettes…
they had a FULL year time to make open air spaces for shisha smoking, who told them NOT to do that ? so now they should bare the consequences its their responsibility they made millions out of shisha they could have done it easily
it is banned in CLOSED spaces NOT fully banned at winter they cant do a “khaymeh” and put heaters outside and smoke there that should make no problem as well
They’ve already suffocated us enough. It’s time for them to stop!
I don’t go to restaurants in Lebanon because of the disgusting cigarette smell we get from them, not to mention that the they usually smell like SH!@#
Kenya has a non-smoking law without any objections, why are these idiots complaining ??!!
If someone wants to smoke, let them do it outside, this how it happens in the civilized world, unless they are not willing to join it.
i am a non smoker.
but you cannot say thatthe people complaining are idiots.
these people made tons of money from shisha cafes and restaurants. they have the right to protect their investment. provided they do it legally. i.e no tire burning and kidnapping
it is fair game for them to challenge the law (legally) but until/if it is abolished, they have to ban smoking in their areas (otherwise suffer the consequences)
the “haters’ attitude everybody is taking is really shameful. it is a free world. and in the free world, people can lobby and sign petitions to abolish/make laws…
ya user as i said above, they had one full year to make open air space and suitable for arguile smoking, y they didnt do it ? let them bare the consequences, nobody is getting this smoking arguile is not FULLY banned unless if its a closed space!!!!
to be honest, that is not a fair solution. neither to the owners nor to the smokers!
the owners would lose income. you can debate as much as you want that it will not affect business since people will always go to the cafes and spend money. but honestly a decent shisha would cost you around 15,000. and it would only cost the cafe around 1,500!! so that is plenty of lost money. a burger might cost you 15,000 but it also costs the cafe around that figure too. let’s not fool ourselves; shisha is the main income for the cafes.
back to your comment: you are right, they could have opened outdoor spaces for smokers. but do you think it is fair?
i mean does the smoker have to sweat his ass during summer to enjoy a shisha? and winter? do smokers have to freeze to death? during extreme weather smokers wont be able to spend their money, thus cafe owners wont be able to make money!
very simple really.
again i am a non smoker, and nothing pisses me off more than the idea that i cannot take my 1 year old daughter out because of smokers… but again who am i to deny them their rights?
so a comprehensive solution should be found so that both extremes can be happy.
one more thing, as someone might have said, how do you expect a lebanese to pay a personal fine when the car tickets are disregarded?
what is the mechanism of collecting the fines?
1-“i mean does the smoker have to sweat his ass during summer to enjoy a shisha? and winter? do smokers have to freeze to death?”: ah lebanese freeze to death in canada -40 degrees and sweat to death in kuwait smoking outside for example but y not here???? lama3loumetak in lebanon 300 days of sun and minimum temp here is like 10 in winter few heaters will do the job and in summer well there r lots of open air restaurants so nobody is complaining abt it oh and we dont live in dubai, so no excuses
2-“the owners would lose income”: no they wont, they are making TONS of money so they could have made open air spaces EASILY in one year mesh na2eson masari ,this way they wont lose income.
3-“how do you expect a lebanese to pay a personal fine when the car tickets are disregarded”: again thats NOT a reason NOT to apply this law when the owner of the restaurant gets the fine he wont let anyone smoke in his restaurant anymore, thats the aim not necessary personal fining its all abt health 🙂
there is a solution for everything
oh relax people… banning smoking from public places is just an old ruse so that the government can make some easy money, soon enough they’ll introduce a luxury tax that a restaurant owner is gonna have to pay if he wants to have people smoke in his place, as long as he provides another closed area for non smokers.
“soon enough they’ll introduce a luxury tax…”, oh so ur michel hayek now predicting the future
Thanks dad, love u