Independent Member of Parliament, Van Hugh Cornelius De Weever on June 8, 2015 signed the approval of a draft ordinance amending the Ordinance limiting tobacco use.
MP De Weever clearly stated that this ordinance is in the interest of public health. This will ban tobacco use in public places, workplaces and public transport. When MP De Weever was Minister of Public Health Social Development & Labor he already brought light to this ordinance. During that time MP De Weever asked the business community to do the right thing and ban smoking in their establishments and launched the Clean Air For All policy banning smoking in all Government offices.
With the transition to Country status in 2010, St. Maarten took over many of the former Netherlands Antilles laws/ordinances, one of them being the ordinance of May 23, 1996 on measures to reduce tobacco use. MP De Weever has been able within short to have this ordinance of the amending of the ordinance restricting tobacco use.
Many countries within the Caribbean have tobacco control laws mainly banning smoking in public places and the workplace. Tobacco control measures can save lives as tobacco is the leading cause of cancers and heart disease.
MP De Weever stated that studies prove that by having these measures in place you promote public health by eliminating illness and death caused by tobacco and second hand smoke. “It is also important to note that this law is based on Curaçao and Suriname’s laws as well.”
