President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu announced last night that a major national program conducted through civil society has been decided to commence to steer people away from tobacco.
Responding to a question on PSM's "Nation Chat" podcast, the President stated that this program, which will be implemented in a way that the government assists non-governmental organizations and associations working in islands to distance people from tobacco, will also include providing financial assistance to these associations. He added that the extent of government assistance to the organizations will be determined by looking at the rate of people moving away from tobacco due to their efforts.
"[The work to distance people from tobacco] is going through phases. Among those phases, the measures that need to be taken right now are being implemented. The entire purpose of this is to move people away from smoking," the President said.
"With this, we are also starting a very large national program that empowers civil society. Meaning, we will facilitate various things for different kinds of organizations and associations to work in islands, and this will also include giving different kinds of financial prizes, or giving different kinds of incentives."
However, he did not provide a specific date for when the program would begin.
President Muizzu stated that when the program commences, the duty levied on items used to distance people from tobacco will also be eliminated. He added that eliminating the duty would lower the prices of those items and that the government is running a comprehensive program to distance people from tobacco.
While the use of vapes was completely banned, the government increased the duty levied on cigarettes and various tobacco products. However, the government has now submitted a bill to the People's Majlis to lower the duty levied on cigarettes.
Responding to the question regarding the matter on the podcast, the President stated that the decision to lower the duty was made in accordance with a schedule in a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO). He said that this measure would bring ease to people who wish to move away from tobacco, and that it would also make it easier for people using higher-risk products to distance themselves from those varieties.
