Sometimes I believe whatever society does to combat the scourge of smoking is just not enough — the awareness campaign, the increased cost of cigarettes, various modes of actions in the fight against smoking in our society are all in vain. Year after year, if not day after day, the number of smokers in our society is on the rise. Despite the campaign by the Ministry of Health and other non-profit organizations to increase awareness about the dangers of smoking, the numbers keep rising. Why this dichotomy? Does society ignore what the government or the NGOs are trying to impart or does not society heed the warnings because it is uninteresting and vague. There is something wrong here. Why are the numbers not declining? Why are the numbers of smokers among Saudi youth and women on the fast rise? Why are we losing the battle here? Let us look at some of the statistical numbers on smoking in Saudi Arabia. The statistics I found were terrifying. If the numbers keep increasing at the same rate, then Saudis will be extinct by year 2060, literally going up in smoke. According to the statistics published in a local daily, more than 6 million Saudi men smoke cigarettes. High school students make up 15 percent to 27 percent of smokers in the Kingdom. And there are over 30,000 deaths each year in the Kingdom caused by smoking. Then about 5.7 percent of smokers in Saudi Arabia are women. Scary but true for, on an average, one smoker burns 2,130 cigarettes per year in the Kingdom. In addition, smokers spend SR18 million every day on their smoking habit. Then, in turn, health care costs on smoking-related diseases reached SR50 million per year at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh alone. These are statistics for cigarettes only; there are smokers of sisha, which has been reduced citywide with the governmental bans on cafes providing these services, in addition to rolled cigarettes, tobacco chewing and the use of the pipe. The incremental cost on the person and the government is monumental. Then why does society willingly walk into a habit that is considered a virtual suicide? Invariably studies have proscribed that smoking always leads to cancer. It is either from tobacco or burned paper in the cigarettes that contribute to the various types of cancer that afflicts a person. The number of people dying as a result of cancer resulting from smoking is also on the rise. The question I ask now is what should we do to curb this habit? What are the strategies that we have devised to fight this disease? Smoking is just as bad as drugs. Each leads to death. Though the use of drugs could waste away one's life faster, cigarettes are like slow poisoning that will take time to kill a person and who knows how many others will be affected by the second-hand smoking. What's ironic is that we have continued to take traditional routes to fight this habit. The traditional ways of combating smoking are useless at this time. Distributing posters and booklets about the dangers of smoking is useless in a society that does not read much. We need more effective methods to reach students at their schools. That's the tender age that can prove decisive in any campaign. The government needs to be tough when dealing with this issue. Just as the government dealt with speedsters on the road and introduced Saher with tougher fines despite the public opposition, the same attitude needs to be taken by the government and there should be a Saher-like system to fine smokers in public in addition to strong drives in schools to warn them of the dangers of smoking. The government has taken an important step by banning smoking inside the airport. I wish this step was implemented in all indoor buildings with no exceptions. I do miss the old days when smoking was considered a crime just as bad as taking drugs. There was a healthy respect for elders' voice of concern and even the respect shown by smokers by deferring smoking in front of them. But today all those concepts are gone. Now it is fashion and socially acceptable. In the old days, some families were extremely tough on children. If they smell smoke on their clothes, they will be banned from accompanying smokers or meeting with them. Nowadays families do not care whether their children smoke or are friends with smokers. I was pleased when the municipality decided to ban shisha places from operating inside the city of Jeddah. The large number of people that protested this step only showed how deep-rooted the problem of smoking is in our society. Such people should have had the consideration that there are many people who suffer from the smell of shisha and cigarettes. Smokers are more than welcome to kill themselves if they wish to, but they should not harm others. They should know that they do not live alone in the city, and there are others who live there too and who hate the smell of cigarette. We should collectively, as a society, raise the alarm against smoking and take serious steps to curb it. I wish the government imposes heavy taxation on cigarettes so the price could reach SR100 per pack or more just to discourage smokers from buying them. Incentives should be given to stores that do not sell cigarettes. And we should discuss the problems of selling cigarettes to minors. The government for all its campaign against smoking has not put a rule in place to punish those who sell cigarettes to minors. There is no law against it here and a minor or even a child can easily walk into any store and buy a pack of cigarette if he wants to. It is disturbing that shop owners in most cases will sell cigarettes to a minor because they only care about making a profit. It is more disturbing if we find out that some parents send their children to the store to buy cigarettes. What kind of examples do these parents want to set for their children? The government in its bid to help the fight against smoking should take innovative steps. The Ministry of Health should bring lung cancer survivors in front of students in school auditorium to speak about their experience, pain and suffering. This is a singular form of deterrence that has worked globally. Teachers who smoke should be encouraged to stop smoking because they are teachers to our children and they should set perfect examples. Smokers are humans too and they err either willfully or are forced into this habit either by a dare of a peer or just the fad of the day, and they are just ignorant about the danger of smoking. If they were aware of its dangers, they would have not started smoking. So apart from the government and the NGOs, we, people of our society, should in our own way discourage this scourge and pave the way for a cleaner and better society.
