Homoud Abu Talib Okaz newspaper First of all, we should be grateful to anyone who cares about public health and works hard to prevent epidemics and diseases from spreading in our community. Consequently, we should thank all concerned authorities —on top of them the Jeddah mayoralty — that have banned hookahs in the city's restaurants and cafés. The mayoralty promised that it would be strict with violators. Although the decision in general should be lauded, I would like to attract the readers' attention to some other negative issues that have not been dealt with so far. Jeddah residents have been suffering from the effects of pollution for so long that they might have developed some kind of immunity to the hookah smoke. After all, the residents have put up with the bad smell from the Musk Lake for so long and they have survived. But this is not the only thing Jeddah residents have put up with. The strong ones have come to terms with the fact that most districts in the city have overflowing sewage. Not only that, they have accepted large quantities of garbage they see in the same street piled up for days before they are disposed of by municipal cleaners. The poor residents have become used to inhaling the smoke coming from exhaust pipes and factories. Nevertheless, they have remained as strong as ever and never faltered. Then why should we worry that these residents would be negatively affected by the smoke coming out of apple- or orange-flavored hookahs? Jeddah residents are strong enough to withstand smoke with the smell of fruit — the smoke hookah users blow out to freshen the air that is full of bad smells coming from sewage and exhaust pipes. No, we should not worry about the strong residents of this city. Let me conclude with this point. If the decision to ban hookahs seeks to reduce the pollution level in the city and protect public health, it should have also included a ban on outdoor cafes, not just the indoor ones. After all, when a person goes to a closed place to smoke, he does that voluntarily. But open areas are for everyone and non-smokers become exposed to second-hand smoking as they are left with no choice. Therefore, this decision in anyway will not reduce pollution levels nor will it protect public health. On the contrary, it might force hookah users to go out to open areas to smoke. Another possibility is that restaurants or cafés might incorporate secret hookah joints where smokers can indulge in their habit without worrying about anything.
