Jamaica to Prohibit Smoking in Public Places

Source from:  New York Times Blogs  07/05/2013

Jamaica will soon join the ranks of countries that prohibit smoking in public places. The nationwide ban will take effect July 15. People will no longer "have to involuntarily inhale tobacco smoke, with its over 40 carcinogens," Fenton Ferguson, the minister of heath, said in a statement when the new regulations were announced in late June.

Places where smoking will not be permitted include enclosed public places, public transportation, workplaces, government buildings, health facilities (including pharmacies); sport, athletic and recreational facilities; educational institutions; and places of collective use, like bus stops.

In the next six months, businesses will be required to post signs to alert customers, and tobacco products will be required to display new, large graphic health warnings in addition to the text ones currently in use. Individuals as well as proprietors and managers will be fined for breaches, according to the Jamaican Information Service, the official government news agency. Smokers who light up in public places, for example, could "be fined $50,000 or three months imprisonment, on conviction for a first offence." That's roughly $500 in United States currency. Enditem