After providing shisha establishments with a transitional period to get used to the prohibition, the authorities in Mali have started a crackdown on hookah smoking.
The nation’s anti-drug organisation claims that when the six-month moratorium expired, it made hundreds of arrests in the capital city of Bamako and seized water lines.
In recent years, Bamako has seen a boom in bars where small groups of smokers — usually young guys — congregate to speak and puff on hookahs.
But when the junta-run government unexpectedly imposed a ban on August 15, their time was over.
It forewarned that violators would face a fine of between $0.45 and $15 and a prison sentence of one to ten days.
The Central Narcotics Office (OCS) in a Facebook posting said there had been “vigorous” raids by its agents in Bamako on Tuesday night, culminating in “about 50 individuals in prison and a large amount of seized material.”
It published photos of young men and women being taken away in the back of pickup trucks and a picture of a pile of water pipes.
“The grace period given by the authorities for importers, distributors, sellers and consumers of shisha in Mali is over,” the OCS said.
In Mali, opinions on the ban are split.
The majority of the population of the nation is Muslim, and most interpretations of Islam are against smoking and using shisha.
Yet, it is also a secular country that accepts alcohol usage, even though it is only permitted in a few public spaces and is not offered in the majority of stores and restaurants.
Usually, hookahs or shishas burn tobacco that has been fruit-flavored to give it a sweeter taste. Using a lengthy rubber tube that has been cooled by water, the smoke is breathed. The tobacco product is sometimes sometimes referred to as “shisha.”
