Tobacco use by teenagers in Lebanon has risen by 10 to 15 points of percent over the past 10 years, a staggering increase, according to a census conducted in Lebanese schools by Pascale Salameh, a pharmacist, epidemiologist and university professor. The increase mirrors the overall trend in the Middle East, but is the opposite of the global trend on youth smoking. “Between 30 and 35 percent of young Lebanese smoke compared to no more than 20 percent 10 years ago,” Salameh told L’Orient-Le Jour (OLJ).

The increase is not only limited to young people as the number of adult smokers in Lebanon has continued to rise as well. In 2010, 34.2 percent of men and 19.5 percent of women in Lebanon smoked daily, according to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO). Five years later, 37.4 percent of men and 21.3 percent of women over the age of 15 were lighting up.

The increase in youth smoking in Lebanon echoes, but out paces, WHO statistic available for other countries in the Middle East. In Egypt, 7.5 percent of youth between the age of 13 and 15 smoked in 2009. By 2014, the number rose to 10.1 percent. In Iraq, 13.4 percent of young people in the same age group had used tobacco in 2009. In 2014, the number increased slightly to 14.1 percent.

In Europe and North America the trend is the opposite: fewer and fewer people, both young and old, are smoking. In the United States for example, a 2017 study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported that 7.6 percent of 14 to 18 years old smoked compared to 28 percent in 2000.

The Hookah rush

The biggest cause in the rise in smoking amongst young people in Lebanon is the infamous hookah, according to Salameh, who says it has become a “real cultural problem” because it is socially acceptable for both boys and girls to smoke it. Ten years ago, only one third of young people who consumed tobacco smoked water pipes. Today, two thirds are drawn to the clouds of sweet, flavored smoke and bubbling water in the glass base. The upward trend in use is “very evident among girls”, Salameh adds.

She is also sounding the alarm about the ever lowering age at which children are beginning to smoke. “Before, children started to smoke at around 13 to 14 years while today some start at 11 and 12,” Salameh says, explaining that a child surrounded by relatives, friends and or siblings who smoke may start doing so very young. On the other hand, several protective factors prevent early initiation to the habit, including having parents who do not smoke and who oppose smoking, open communication with the father and a strong presence of the mother at home.

“Shocked and disappointed”

For Carl, an 18-year-old smoker, the fact that his parents are non-smokers and entirely against cigarettes did not stop him from starting to smoke at age 11. “I was hanging out with older friends, and I wanted to fit in and act like a big guy next to them,” he said. “The first cigarette was disgusting.” But disgust gave way to addiction.

Mya is 16 years old. When she started smoking two years ago, her parents, who were smokers themselves, were “shocked and disappointed”. “I don’t think that any parents want their child to smoke,” she said, adding that she never lit up in her parents’ presence.

According to Salameh, another worrisome fact is that among the minors interviewed during the last census conducted in Lebanon, “all the young people who are regular smokers have not quit”.

Nevertheless, Carl would like to change his smoking habits. “I am trying to replace cigarettes with other things. Currently, I only smoke the electronic cigarette. It is said to be less harmful,” he said. Before, he was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

The rise in smoking in Lebanon has occurred despite the fact that the State adopted an anti-smoking law eight years age, banned smoking in public places and required warnings about the health risks of smoking to be put on cigarette packs. “This law is constantly being violated and bypassed, and has had no impact on youngsters,” Salameh said, adding that shopkeepers and retailers don’t check the age of young people buying cigarettes, warning about health risks are not found on tombak packages and tobacco prices have never increased, something that has been a crucial factor in reducing smoking elsewhere in the world.

Mya, who smokes a pack of cigarettes per day, knows the risks involved, but has no intention of letting the habit go. “Nothing could motivate me to stop. My mother told me about the risks and about cancer, but it doesn’t strike me at all,” she said,

In the absence of any real willingness on the part of Lebanese decision makers to reverse the trend on childhood smoking, the horizon seems like it will hold more of the same. The number of tobacco users of all ages could very well increase to 48 percent of the population by 2025, according to the WHO. And along with it, the number of young people who will be hooked on their cigarettes and hookahs will also go up.

Source : L’Orient Le Jour

https://www.lorientlejour.com/article/1173314/in-lebanon-teenage-tobacco-use-is-skyrocketing.html