Five million smokers in this country? This is a frightening number compared to the Kingdom’s total population. While the number of smokers is decreasing in the developed world, it is unfortunately increasing in the developing world — with Asian and African countries being the largest tobacco consumers.
Enter a restaurant in any of our cities and you will see groups of people, all smoking. In the street up to six young men walk together with everyone holding a cigarette. Our markets are hazy with cigarette smoke, and the phenomenon is far too widespread among university and high school students.
The number of smokers in the Kingdom should cause great alarm. No one can possibly be unaware of the bad effects of smoking on health, the economy, family and social life and even general appearance. Doctors, scientists, anti-smoking campaigners, religious scholars, and educators participate in the anti-smoking campaign, but unfortunately the situation has not changed for the better.
What can be done to convince people to stop smoking?
The government has intervened, officially banning smoking in public places but people simply ignore the instructions. Some people seem determined to cause themselves harm. Some cough until you think they are at the point of death but the moment they stop coughing, they light a cigarette. Others light a cigarette the moment they leave the cemetery where someone who died of lung cancer has just been buried.
Is there nothing for us to do but admit our failure despite all these efforts, all the time wasted and the money spent on anti-smoking campaigns?
