Despite the government ban on public smoking and a number of “kick the habit” campaigns, over six million Saudis are regular smokers, accounting for 35 percent of adults and 40 percent of teenagers, a recent study has shown. Saudi Arabia ranks 23rd in the world in the individual consumption of cigarettes, said Soleiman Al-Sabi, secretary general of the National Anti-Smoking Society Saudis pay nearly SR2 billion a year for tobacco products, he said, and inhale over 46 tons of tobacco smoke annually. Treatment of smoking-related diseases, however, is far more expensive than the cost of imported tobacco. Medical treatment of smokers and passive smokers costs more than SR7 billion a year, with the treatment of each smoker costing as much as SR1 million, Al-Sabi said. Lung cancer in the Kingdom due to smoking has risen by 40 percent.
