Smoking everywhere

I'm not defending it, but part of Arab culture is smoking....it's all over the region.....not just Doha! You know how we have bars, drink anywhere and everywhere in the West, they smoke everywhere...something you have to put up with! Dont go to Dubai, the malls are full of people smoking.

As Gypsy said, Rome wasn't built in a day, and this country only started really being built over the past 6 or 7 years.

I agree, the roads are a mess, inflation is high, the medical facilities are stretched and so many other criticisms.

But please remember the regional context; Qatar is not bordered by Sweden and Denmark. Reminds me of the accusations of corruption levelled at the Palestinian Authority which is also not bordered by Scandinavian nations.

At least here I know the health inspectors aren't on the take and won't grab a quick buck to let some bad meat slide through and be sold to the public. Here my kids go out and don't hear swear words everywhere as they do in Lebanon, here as in the UK, Helloqatar, they use speed traps to document traffic violations and here a policeman or school or embassy detail doesn't use his side-arm and government issue weapon to vent his superiority complex on people.

Let's not start the Qatar and Qatari bashing thing again because it's completely unobjective.

Just read disillusioned's link - VERY interesting.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Every adult of sound mind, should be able to choose to do whatever they want, as long as they cause no harm to others".

It's not just Qatar, it's an affliction of the whole Arab and Islamic world with very few exceptions. It's extremely unfortunate.

We might live in Qatar but we have to see the bigger picture.

The Royal Family is doing a LOT for this country river rat, but Rome wasn't built in a day and you sure as hell can't change ingrained Arab attitudes over night. Rich doesn't neccessarily mean smart or aware.

[img_assist|nid=13228|title=I feel your scorn and I accept it-Jon Stewart|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=180|height=180]

i'm really disappointed in certain aspects of Qatar. the ruling families/wealthy qatari's' obviously have had a good education/enough money and should as such be quite worldly with regards to these concerns. Driving,(risky - scary land cruisers,potholes and no cops) one wonders what the local municipalities are actually doing in their area's or do they not exist. It seems that any substantial work done to aesthetically improve the dust bowl we have chosen to live in is undone one week later and the rest of the town is like a squatter camp interspersed with bulldozers, half built villa's too big for any normal family( who lives in these castles?) and mounds of sand and rubbish. Had to have the medical for rp the other day, bits of bloody cotton wool/gauze on the floor of the medical commission - really hygienic. No smoking bans ineffective, people stuck in deportation camps for months, road workers who have to sleep on top of each other due to a lack of space/beds, people who are quite happy to put their maids in cupboards under the stairs with a mattress. Sounds good hey? Now that i think about it i feel quite bad moaning about all this, at least i can afford an iced coffee at Starbucks - that is an entire day's wage for some or maybe a lot of people in this country. Shame!

If you really want to know the truth about smoking, and other laws, read this link!!

http://www.forestonline.org/files/pdf/SMOKE,%20LIES%20A4%20v5b.pdf

Till some of these things change, laws are enforced for everyone, etc. Qatar will continue to be a dirty 3rd world country. Look at the trash, look at the people smoking in front of no smoking signs, look at drivers, nobody respects the Emir or his laws, if they did they wouldn't flaunt them or ignore them.

That is why they use speed cameras, so a badly trained under-respected police force doesn't have to do anything.

The way I understand Islam, smoking is wrong, doesn't seem to bother many Muslims in Qatar. The only thing is more and more smoker will die and we will have more and more medical cost to break the bank.

Feel proud to be in Qatar

I think it's in the Arab psyche, lack of discipline and a total disinterest in it.

I took my son to the hospital this morning. There's no point in standing in line. Everything is horizontal. That's when you're not needled in the back, have an arm extended over your shoulder and other people's kids in between your legs.

In the waiting area two TVs blaring different programs and outside people smoking next to the "don't smoke here" sign.

People walk into the elevators going to visit inpatients carrying food in bags, cartons and even pots and pans...

...about 6 months ago. Quitting is the hardest thing I've ever done...and it's been the same each time I've tried. It really truly, madly, deeply sucks.

Every single day there is at least one time where I really want one. I know, if I have the one, I'm screwed again totally.

I didn't worry about the medical aspects; I just got tired of being a slave to the delicious little bastards.

same old story ... you can put million non smoking sign everywhere ... if nobody enforce it ... it will not making any difference.

once my 5 yrs old son walked to the next table, a qatari guy smoking ... and he asked this guy why he smoke when there is no-smoking sign in the table??? i guess my son embarrased this guy and he came to our table and gave him a sweet.

my ages have shortened by 10 yrs during my 6 yrs living in doha.

There must be a cure for smoking!!! And don't tell me "where there is a will, there is a way"!

***The biggest risk in life, is not taking one!***

HA. me same same you

Who says laws are not enforced. Once my college spit on the road and enviornment guys in civil caught him. He had to pay QR 300 as a fine. :) I know it is one off incident but they enforced the law once in a blue moon

I know exactly what you are going through. I am a smoker and I have a 7 month baby boy. I -as any other parent- want the best for him and constantly do the best to protect him. I really think twice before going anywhere with my wife and son due to smoking that is (allegedly banned). Second hand smoke has proven to be more fatal than direct smoke. I do not smoke in my house or anywhere there are children.

I wish that other smokers could understand the seriousness and fatality that second hand smoke could impact people around us!

I truly want to quit smoking, but I enjoy it too much!

***The biggest risk in life, is not taking one!***

don't even get me started on the @#$%,. land cruisers - have recently updated my will, and started saying my prayers!

...now you're just talking crazy...next you'll be saying people should be polite to other people and not shout at complete strangers because they are in the service industry.

I suppose you also want land cruisers to drive more than 10cm from your bumper...jeez.

We just don't need that kind of radical thinking here. That kind of talk leads to communism and stuff.

It is a bit like those white markings on the road, they are very pretty and good decoration but somebody joking told me we are meant to drive within these "lanes".... crazy i know. I mean that would mean i have to plan an appraoch to a R/A and be in the correct lane! cheeky and more than one car could go around a R/A at a time, how efficient and certainly not T.I.Q. style

It's the same everywhere, river-rat, laws are passed but are unenforced.

Smoking, handicapped-parking, talking on the mobile, spitting (it's an offence)...