Studies have shown that almost all drug users, especially the young, were tobacco smokers, some since childhood. Smoking was found to be a major cause of drug abuse and addiction. Yet, while we do everything possible to fight drugs, we continue to show tolerance and leniency when it comes to smoking. Very little or no attention at all is paid when our youth smoke in public. Parents smoke in the presence of children who follow suit by smoking themselves. Students no longer feel ashamed of being caught smoking in class, markets, shopping centers, amusement parks and other public places. And most of those places have posted signs forbidding smoking. Smoking thus becomes a gesture of clear defiance. Recent studies in the United States and Egypt showed a strong link between smoking at an early age and drug addiction and crime.
This discovery should serve as a strong warning to us that all the smokers living among us pose a potential threat to society. Failure to take these findings seriously could be catastrophic. Despite the obvious dangers posed by smoking in both the short and long term, we continue to deal with the problem as if no harm were involved. It should be remembered that deadly fires begin with tiny sparks. Why then continue to ignore the hazards of smoking cigarettes while focusing on fighting drug abuse and addiction which are the natural results of smoking? Why be lenient with tobacco smokers and hard on drug users and addicts?
Fighting this evil calls for a sustained campaign starting with educating and informing students in schools. Let us make the campaign part of the curriculum, introduce special programs and set up special summer school activities. Relying on lectures alone is not enough, especially when the technique is sermonizing. It is important to discuss and expose every danger posed by smoking. A cigarette contains more than 49 types of poisonous material. They become stronger when exposed to extreme heat. Do you still want to smoke?
Arab News From the Local Press 4 January 2003
