JEDDAH, 13 May 2006 — Despite religious deterrents and anti-smoking campaigns, there are nearly six million smokers in the Kingdom who puff out SR30 million every day, according to Muhammad ibn Marzouk Al-Harithy, director of the Charitable Society to Enhance Public Awareness Against Smoking and Drugs in the Makkah Region.

He estimated the number of deaths in the Kingdom as a result of smoke-related diseases at 23,000 annually. A large number of people suffer from chronic diseases, including cardiac ailments and different types of cancer every year as a result of smoking, he added.

“If we presume that the Kingdom’s six million smokers consume at least one packet of cigarette valued at SR5, the total spending is SR30 million daily,” he pointed out.

Al-Harithy said his society had distributed questionnaires among Saudi smokers to find out what prompted them to adopt the unhealthy habit. The majority of them replied that they started the habit while they were in intermediate school for different reasons. Some of them were imitating parents, relatives, teachers or friends. Others mistakenly believed that smoking was a sign of manhood. Films and promotional ads had also played a role in encouraging many to smoke.

“About 8 percent of young Saudi men and women started smoking before primary level; 20 percent during primary level; 30 percent during intermediate level; and 10 percent while they were in the first year of the secondary level,” he said, citing results of the survey.

Smokers are twice as likely to die from heart attacks as are nonsmokers. Women who smoke are more likely to have a miscarriage or a lower birth-weight baby, medical experts say. Smoking is no longer considered a fashion or a matter of prestige. Studies show smoking employees cost businesses more as they are often absent from work due to sickness. Smokers also put the health of those around them in danger. Studies have proved that “secondhand smoke” causes thousands of deaths from lung cancer and heart disease in healthy nonsmokers each year.

Within a short time since its inception a year and a half ago, the society has organized several programs to convince smokers and illicit drug users to quit their dangerous habit.

An awareness campaign in Jeddah’s Faiha neighborhood had a good response from residents. “This has encouraged us to organize similar campaigns in other districts,” he said.

More than 1,000 shops in the Makkah Region have stopped selling cigarettes. “We have distributed certificates of appreciation to owners of these shops,” he added.