Smoking Ban, Greenbrier County Smoke-Free Law

At midnight on Saturday night it will be illegal to smoke in all public and private places of employment and in any business offering goods or services to the public in Greenbrier County. Many bars in Greenbrier County are attractive to customers simply because they are allowed to smoke inside. And they are worried if they lose their clientele, they'll lose their business too.

Illegal Tobacco Business, Alarming News

The extraordinary increase in illicit tobacco business in the country has rung alarm bells in higher echelons of authority. An urgent need to check its rampant growth has been acknowledged by the tax authorities. According to sources there has been an increase of 11 percent in illegal cigarette trade during last one year, bringing losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer.

Programs for Combating Smoking, Health Tax

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are expected to double customs tariffs on cigarette and other tobacco imports next month. A meeting of the finance ministers from six Gulf states scheduled to be held in May will approve the increase, according to a senior Saudi official. Majed Al-Monief, supervisor of the program for combating smoking at the Ministry of Health, said the ministers of finance and health from the GCC states have already agreed in principle to raise the levy charged on tobacco imports from 100 to 200 percent. “The new duty will be known as the ‘health tax,’ taking into account the huge amount of money each GCC state spends on the treatment of tobacco-related diseases as well as for the rehabilitation of smokers. The finance ministers will decide when the tax will take effect,” Al-Moneif told Asharq Al-Awsat daily yesterday.