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Newsbrief:
Iran
Wants
to
Ban
Water
Pipes
7/2/04
Iranian authorities have
targeted hookahs, or water pipes, as part of a crackdown on immorality,
Reuters reported last week. While Iranian police said the ban was
part of an effort to ban smoking in public, other officials suggested it
was a move by religious police to prevent any slippage in the country's
strictly enforced public morality.
The water pipes, which are
used to smoke fruit-flavored tobacco (sometimes sprinkled with hashish
by adventurous young people) in a convivial social setting, are ubiquitous,
not only in Iran, but across the Middle East. Hookah cafes (not serving
hash) have even opened in US cities ranging from Pittsburgh to San Diego
in recent years.
"According to Health Ministry
directives, the ban on water pipes will be implemented," said Health Ministry
official Hassan Azaripour. Restaurant owners and patrons faced fines
if caught puffing, he added.
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 |
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International Anti-Drugs Day activity in Tehran, Iran, 2001
|
But apparently some hookahs
are more equal than others. According to Tehran prosecutor Saeed
Mortazavi, his agents would not be targeting traditional eateries where
hookahs are de rigeuer. Instead, he said, they are targeting mingling
of the sexes in cafes and clubs and women who flout strict Islamic dress
codes. "Of course we will be rigorous in dealing with the promoters
of vice and fornication," he said.
According to Reuters, restaurateurs
in a tourist zone north of Tehran were packing their pipes into boxes last
week. But in an old-style restaurant in central Tehran, diners continued
to suck on the hookahs despite the supposed ban. When asked by Reuters
why authorities had banned the pipes, a waiter there tapped his finger
against his temple. "They are mad," he said.
The waiter's boss, restaurant
manager Iraj, agreed that the ban was misplaced. "It is not vice,"
he said. "People are scared of these men who quote the Koran to make
law, but vice is not in external things like water pipes. Vice is
in your own heart."
-- END --
|
Issue #344, 7/2/04
Editorial: Under Its Own Weight |
Supreme Court Ruling Portends Massive Changes in Federal Sentencing -- Thousands Could Benefit from Reduced Sentences, Early Releases on Appeal |
Federal Judge Declares Sentencing Guidelines Unconstitutional |
Supreme Court to Hear Federal Government Appeal in California Medical Marijuana Case |
International Anti-Drugs Day Marked by Executions in China, "Revolutionary Justice" in India, Silly Stuff Elsewhere |
DRCNet Book Review: "Can't Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945-2000" by Martin Torgoff (Simon & Schuster, 2004, 474 Pages, Notes/Bibliography/Index, $27.95) |
Newsbrief: Bill Introduced in Congress Would Mandate Ten Years to Life for Some Marijuana Sales |
Newsbrief: New Jersey Needle Exchange Battle Continues |
Newsbrief: Iran Wants to Ban Water Pipes |
Newsbrief: European Drug Agency Punctures "Not Your Father's Marijuana" Myth |
Newsbrief: North Carolina Supreme Court Settles Dispute, Declares Cocaine Possession Is a Felony |
Media Scan: Ethan Nadelmann in National Review |
This Week in History |
The Reformer's Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
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