An emerging tobacco product ban is as good as its regulation – Windhoek Observer

Shatyohamba Haihambo, writing as a bar owner, employer and taxpayer, weighs in on proposed amendments to Namibia's Tobacco Products Control Act. He notes that businesses like his have legally sold vapes, refills and hookah for years, generating income and jobs in a country where unemployment is a major challenge. He is nonetheless alarmed that vaping and nicotine products are reaching schoolchildren, and supports stricter age verification, education and tougher penalties for sales to minors. However, he warns that outright prohibition could replicate the failure of cigarette regulation, with illicit tobacco already entering through the northern border, and that prohibition might simply shift demand into informal and illegal channels. He raises practical questions about whether customs, law enforcement and local authorities have the resources to stop illicit imports, monitor unlicensed sellers on social media and informal markets, and avoid unfairly targeting legal businesses while illegal traders operate unchecked. Small businesses that have invested in stock, equipment and supplier relationships around currently legal products could face lost jobs and income under abrupt policy changes. He insists this is not an argument against public health but an appeal for balanced policymaking, suggesting that strong age restrictions, licensing systems, tighter advertising controls and tougher penalties for sales to minors may be more practical and effective than blanket bans that are difficult to enforce. The final legislation, he argues, should protect both public health and jobs, livelihoods and small-business sustainability.

(Source：Windhoek Observer)