Cigarettes May Be Completely Banned In Russia In The Near Future

Smoking is one of the deadliest habits around the world. According to the World Health Organization, around 6 million people every year die in connection with smoking-related diseases, such as lung cancer.

Countries all over the world have their own platforms in trying to lessen the amount of smoking in their citizens, but Russia has decided to take it one step further: The country proposed to ban smoking altogether.

The proposal states that in 2033, those born after 205 will not be allowed to buy or smoke cigarettes anymore, the offense would be treated harshly and its degree of severity is equivalent to purchasing illegal drugs.

President Vladimir Putin, a nonsmoker, supports the ban. Over the last few years he has exercised strict rules to curb smoking in his country. Now, smoking is banned in most public places and restaurants, and he has increased the taxes on several tobacco products.

Russia is one of the top countries in the world with a high smoking population. But because of the recently enforced laws, the percentage of smoking Russians is slowly dwindling; something its Health Ministry is treating as a success. But what they really want is the approval of the smoking ban proposal to be in effect in 2033. According to Nikolai Gerasimenko, a member of the Russian parliament's health committee, "This goal is absolutely ideologically correct."

But some lawmakers worry about the effects of banning cigarette sales completely. Elena Topoleva-Soldunova of the Russian public chamber thinks that this step would just encourage smokers to use counterfeit tobacco products, which are more dangerous to the health.

Others also think about the rate of possibility of this ban. Some countries have tried to ban smoking completely, like in Bhutan, but it didn't stop the smoking locals to purchase illegal cigarettes from India.

The proposal is still under talks and intensive study before it can be approved. Marina Gambaryan, an expert at the Health Ministry, said: "By 2033, the ban on the sale of tobacco products to people born after 2014 will not seem an extreme measure, but an entirely logical development of events."