Saudi Gazette uit smoking if you want to apply for a financial aid to help take care of all your wedding expenses. Weam (harmony), a non-profit organization, financially supports those couples who want to get married, but due to financial constraints they remain hesitant to take this huge important step of their lives. Their new budget will allow 400 men and women to easily and happily tie the knot. However, they have a condition, only non-smokers will be eligible for this financial aid as their aim is to reduce smoking in the Kingdom. Smoking has increased at an alarming rate in the kingdom. A recent study in Makkah revealed that more than 1,100,000 women smoke in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi population consumes over 40,000 tons of tobacco each year. An average cigarette smoker in the Kingdom smokes 2,130 cigarettes per year and smokers in the country collectively spend a total of SR 18 million on cigarettes each day. Weam has teamed up with Naqa (purity), a charitable organization that combats smoking in the Eastern Province. Both organizations provide exemplary social services and generously receive donations from the Ministry of Social Affairs. To obtain the financial aid applicants are required to submit a certificate to Weam stating that he/she is tobacco free. To avail the certificate the prospective bride and groom have to go to Naqa for technological physical exam and blood test which will detect even minute amounts of nicotine or tobacco in the body. Upon successfully passing the tests the prospective couple will receive a certificate from Naqa certifying that both are non-smokers. Smokers will be given the option to undergo treatment at Naqa to quit smoking. The organization has a team of specialists who are trained to make the transition easier on the smoker and help alleviate nicotine withdrawal symptoms. They will also receive a certificate after the therapy is successfully completed. “Some people may perceive this arrangement as a discriminatory act against smokers or as hindering smokers' ability to get married. However, it is the right of the organization who will provide financial assistance to protect the health of the person using the money and also the health of the spouse and the future family. Statistics indicate that divorce rates are higher when one or both partners in a relationship are smokers, so this decision also preserves family unity,” said Saleh Al-Abbad, Director General of the anti-smoking charitable organization, Naqa. Al-Abbad said that last year, more than 70 percent of the 1,500 smokers who sought help from the organization were successful in completely breaking their addiction to smoking and/or chewing of tobacco leaves. He further explained that each smoker costs the organization about SR 2,000 for treatment and therapy, but they only take SR100 from school students, SR200 from university students, and SR300 from working people. Each treatment session lasts for half an hour and the timing of the sessions are flexible, too, to conveniently cater to people with busy schedules. __
