Paro!!PAroo!!HAHA :Cigarette 'shortage' causes anxiety

bowhhhh panic panic!!!haha.


Cigarette 'shortage' causes anxiety

Bandar Seri Begawan - The sudden disappearance of cigarettes in some of the convenient stores in Brunei has caused anxiety among smokers.



They fear that a new regulation may have been introduced to further limit their habitual needs.

Brunei has enforced the Tobacco Act since last year and this latest confusion led to some smokers going around frantically trying to get packs of cigarettes.

Storeowners, however, told the Bulletin that they are not selling cigarettes because their licences (to sell them) have expired and are currently in the process of being renewed.

A retail shop manager in Beribi said the public alarm is misguided. "It's only because the shop owner has yet to renew the tobacco licence," he added, admitting that their current licence has expired.

"Officers from the Ministry of Health have already inspected our shop and it's just a matter of time now," he said.

Ministry of Health sources said they knew nothing about any so called 'new' regulation.

Another retail shop owner in Gadong said,. "We have never encountered any cigarette shortage, and we always renew our tobacco licence on time.

"This is all about business, there are dozens of retail shops in our area and we have to be competitive to meet our customers' needs," he quipped.

Kassim, another convenient shop owner, told the Bulletin that he was surprised when many people turned up to buy cigarettes at his shop in the afternoon. He didn't realise until the evening when someone told him that some stores were not selling cigarettes as their licences had expired.

Some smokers admitted that they became anxious when they were unable to find their cigarettes and some even went to the point of going around shops to stock up.

"It was just strange when I found that all the shops that I went to didn't have stock and so I thought that it must him some new regulation," said a smoker, identifying himself as Suffian.

A wife of a smoker, who requested anonymity, said, "It's good that we have regulations from the proper authorities to curb smoking. My husband will be known as someone other than just a smoker," she added.

"When he smokes, my family and I become passive smokers which is more dangerous than being an active smoker," she lamented.

A civil servant and a fellow smoker said, "Basically if they make it illegal, it will just create a black market and inevitably cause more problems."

Brunei has been actively promoting anti-smoking campaigns since 1998 with the aim of increasing public knowledge and awareness on the harmful effects of smoking



relax smokers..haha..i bet i wont happen..and .like the dude said:-
"Basically if they make it illegal, it will just create a black market and inevitably cause more problems."