SHISHA – FASHION OR ADDICTION ?

In the last 6-7 years, I have personally noticed the growing trend of shisha smoking in Karachi. I remember I first time I puffed shisha at a friend’s bbq party, I coughed like for 3-4 times continuously. Maybe the reason was that I don't smoke or whatever, but that gave me a feel of having smoked an entire cigarette with a single puff !

Recently, I was with my friend at M.A. Society near kaybees, where I saw a bunch of class 8 students discussing various things while smoking shisha. The way they were discussing various adult rated issues was kind of alarming and the worst thing was that all of them had bunked their tuition and collected money for smoking shisha !

Me and my friend were astonished to see such careless attitude towards studies, we blamed media, parents, independence etc but the thing which we ignored was that those kids were ruining their life by smoking shisha.

 I believe that this habit has turned out to be a fashion or the ‘IN THING’ these days, rather than addiction. Youngsters usually smoke shisha in a gathering, while hanging out with friends, at bbqs, night stays and picnics etc. and the worst thing is that if an individual don't smoke at a gathering, people tag him as “Mummy-Daddy” or sophisticated etc. So out of peer pressure one start smoking shisha as a fashion and ends up becoming a total addict of it !

 For all those fools who believe that shisha has nothing in common to cigarettes or is less injurious then here are some facts:

• On an average, each shisha smoking session typically lasts more than 40 minutes, and consists of 50 to 200 inhalations (puffs) that each range from 0.15 to 0.50 liters of smoke.
  
• In an hour-long smoking session of shisha, users consume about 100 to 200 times the smoke of a single cigarette, not only this but if you consider passive smoking (i.e. inhaling the smoke) then these figures could be multiplied by two.

Shisha has dangerous effects on the body because it exposes the smoker to a much larger volume of smoke than what would be inhaled from a cigarette. Not only that, but shisha smokers are exposed to other toxins such as carbon monoxide, heavy metals, and a variety of cancer causing chemicals which are no less dangerous than those found in cigarette smoke.

For reference and more details do read an article Richard D. Hurt, M.D (Director of the Nicotine Dependence Center)

I was really happy when Sindh Govt. decided to ban shisha but as all other laws of Pakistan, this law has been used and abused. I believe that we need to condemn this issue which is settling it’s roots in our society. Our youth is going crazy for this “Cool” stuff but on the other hand our youngsters are ruined through this Addictive Fashion. This could be done by informing our youth and the shisha lovers the side effects of this So-called fashion and let them know that how severe the outcomes are !

 Be kind enough to yourself and your family, who has been spending their lives and money for you. As ALLAH himself informed us to stay away from things which could destroy us:

“And do not throw yourselves into destruction.” [Qur'an 2:195]