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The road to hell is paved with good intentions

By Todd Balazovic (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-30 08:09

It seems like every season around the non-lunar New Year, Beijing starts doing what almost every smoker finds himself or herself doing - making a resolution for this to be the year when the city quits.

With the announcement coming this week that, once again, Beijing's policymakers are considering a plan to put a stop to public smoking, this year was only slightly different. The exception this time around was that instead of saying they would ban smoking here and now, they have proposed to do so over the course of the next five years.

As someone who understands just how difficult it can be to kick the habit, the equivalent of saying "let's do it over the next five years" is like saying "I will quit as soon as I am done with this pack".

While it shows an honest effort and the best intentions, it also shows a lack of willpower - and rarely does it ever end up being the last pack.

There's no need to revisit the standard regarding the effects of second-hand smoke or the argument that smokers should be allowed to light up where they please. This is not an argument about the moral grounds, rather, it's recognizing the yearly calls for a ban by the authorities that often go unheeded.

Perhaps the yearly call to disallow cigarettes is a form of public service announcement for smokers, so that quitting is on the mind at the time of year when absolute resolutions are supposed to be made.

Or perhaps it's just a friendly reminder to businesses that, in fact, there already is a ban on public smoking that goes back to 1995, when the rule banning smoking in public places was first put into place in the capital city.

Still, starting in 2004, when the government pledged the Beijing Olympics would be smoke-free, annual attempts to snuff out smoking have become commonplace.

In 2007, a ban on smoking in taxis was the most successful shot at extinguishing the city's cigarettes, with many taxis still adhering to a "no-smoking" policy.

In 2008, Beijing tried to follow through on the government's pledge by enforcing a citywide ban on smoking in restaurants just before the Olympics. The calls for culling cigarettes were largely ignored by business owners.

In 2009, similar promises were made with the scope being broadened to all public places by the end of the year.

In 2010, the city's smoking habits still seem untouched as people continued to light up in trains, cars, bars, and restaurants.

That's not to say some action hasn't been taken.

This year, the municipal government distributed tens of thousands of books and brochures touting the troubles with the habit and recent statistics show that more than 60 percent of Beijingers are aware of the lesser-known health problems associated with smoking. Not a bad claim compared with the 16 percent nationwide.

But perhaps the reason cigarette bans haven't been as successful as some would hope is because a majority have embraced the country's smoking culture, often opting to buy them as gifts or offering cigarettes to guests.

Or maybe the problem lies in the fact that enforcing the small fine for smoking in a public place would keep Beijing's officers too occupied to keep up with crimes that warrant attention.

Regardless, like the almost clich New Year resolution among smokers that this year will be their last as a smoker, the city needs to vamp up its efforts if it wants to be taken seriously.