15 percent Saudi teens smoke

Up to 15 percent of teenagers in Saudi Arabia smoke, said Sulaiman Alsabi, chairman of the anti-smoking charity society (Naqa’a). He said tobacco companies are targeting intermediate school students and that this is the reason behind conducting the awareness campaign entitled "before he or she smokes". Al-Sabi told Al-Hayat newspaper that his society conducted research to find out how far tobacco companies influence students. The research covered a number of Riyadh’s schools and came up with recommendations to focus on intermediate schools. “It is important to educate students on the dangers of smoking so they are aware of the illnesses directly resulting from smoking such as cancer and heart disease,” said Al-Sabi. He added that the ongoing campaign is devising special programs for teenagers consisting of competitions and presentations explaining the dangers of smoking. A correlation between educational attainment and smoking has also been established. “Some 90 percent of drug addicts smoked when they were younger,” he said. The society organized workshops for teachers and mentors two weeks ago to share their views with that of the society. Al-Hayat said that Naqa’a is cooperating with Saudi universities to conduct research on the impact of smoking but that master students cannot cover wider areas in their research due to weak financing. The newspaper further reported that the Eastern Province mayoralty is now applying a new regulation that restricts shisha sales. The mayoralty said that the new regulation is part of its effort to fight the shisha and its accessories. The mayoralty said smoking is strictly banned in facilities under its supervision, closed spaces, crowded places and malls. The mayoralty has also finally applied the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs’ decision to ban advertising tobacco products in supermarkets and groceries, in addition to displaying them in unobtrusive places. The regulation bans shops from selling cigarettes from opened packs and also from selling them to customers under the age of 18. The mayoralty warned that it would apply penalties to violating outlets. Mohammad Safyan, mayoralty spokesman, said these regulations come along with the international trend to fight smoking. The mayoralty closed down shisha cafes that were located in residential areas and also closed shops selling shisha near mosques and schools or located on side streets. Arab news