The country that introduced the concept of gross national happiness (GNH) as an alternative development paradigm to gross domestic product (GDP) is once again refusing to blindly conform to what may be deemed the norm in most countries, instead choosing the more enlightened path that is most beneficial to its citizens.
Bhutan has a long anti-tobacco history, going all the way back to ancient times when the country believed smoking was a sin and that the tobacco plant originated from the menstrual waste of a powerful demoness subdued by an Indian tantric master who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan in the eighth century. Fast-forward to modern times, in 2004 it became the first country to implement a nationwide ban on tobacco sales in all forms as well as a ban on smoking in all public places. Then, in 2010 came the Tobacco Control Act, which banned the cultivation, manufacturing, and trade of tobacco products but still allowed smokers to import controlled amounts of tobacco products, albeit after paying heavy taxes. Smuggling cigarettes, already a lucrative trade, became even more so, as tends to happen when there’s a blanket ban like that.
Now, with the Tobacco Control (Amendment) Bill 2021 and Tax Bill of Bhutan 2021 approved, Bhutan is legalizing the very products it had previously banned, allowing them to be sold, bought, distributed, and transported in the country. And, to add to that good news, the steep 100% sales tax on tobacco and tobacco products will be done away with, too.
If we look at tobacco bans in other countries, and there are certainly more than enough examples, the reasoning for these bans is generally about public health. Taking away people’s rights to smoke tobacco, making it more difficult and expensive to do so, and using scare tactics to deter them have become the modus operandi adopted by countries worldwide. But, the only thing these bans seem to be successfully achieving is driving immense growth in the illicit tobacco trade with products of questionable origins and quality, which, in turn, could potentially harm smokers more than the legitimate tobacco products on the market.
Last year, the growing illicit tobacco trade on its border with India caused a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in Bhutan, leading the government to temporarily lifting its nationwide ban. This June the government made that move permanent. But, the decision wasn’t just because of countering smugglers and controlling Covid-19. The government also realized a simple fact – keeping tobacco from smokers might lead to tensions at home and all-around unhappiness.
Obviously, this doesn’t mean that the Bhutanese government is actively encouraging its people to smoke more. The government is actually developing a program to help smokers cut down their tobacco consumption. Production and manufacturing of tobacco will still be banned. Tobacco sales to anyone below the age of 18 will also continue to be prohibited. But, the government is working based on the understanding that tobacco is essential to the happiness of smokers, and, in turn, their families, and are giving people relevant information about tobacco and smoking and, most importantly, the choice – a fair chance to choose for themselves whether or not they will smoke, and if yes, how much they will smoke and what they will smoke – while still protecting young people from picking up smoking at an early age.
Blanket bans have seldom worked as well as their initiators believed they would, some the tobacco industry has always maintained. The fact that Bhutan’s ban on tobacco sales just led to a thriving black market for tobacco products from India is another glaring example of this, among many other cases. Bhutan was the first country to ban tobacco sales nationwide, perhaps now it will also go down in history as the first country to achieve a working balance between public health measures and allowing its citizens the autonomy to make their own informed decisions in regards to their own lives and happiness.