Harmful dokha smoking becomes the in thing

JEDDAH: A high percentage of youngsters are becoming addicted to smoking cigarettes and rapidly shifting to dangerous forms of smoking like dokha, a traditional Arabic tobacco mixed with herbs, spices, dried flowers, and/or fruit that is consumed using a pipe called medwakh to get lightheaded.
Getting together and smoking has become a trend among youngsters. The definition of happiness and enjoyment has changed. Psychologist Sara Rahman commented that one of the basic reasons why smoking dokha is thriving among youngsters is because many of them consider smoking medwakh safer than smoking cigarettes and less injurious to health, which is not the case.
“This form of smoking recently gained popularity and very little research has been carried out to explore the potential harms of smoking medwakh. Many are not aware of its negative effects on health for which a proper awareness campaign is required. According to the research, dohka has high nicotine content containing up to five times as much as a normal cigarette,” she said.
Several youngsters addicted to smoking claim that they smoke just for pleasure or to fit into a certain group of friends, for image or to experiment, which slowly turns into an addiction by the time they reach their adulthood.
Since Saudi Arabia ranked fourth in the world in terms of tobacco sales, this problem is considered more urgent. As per Saudi Heart Association studies, approximately 30 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia smoke. It has been shown that the 17-40 year-old category smoke the most, but the speed at which this habit is spreading is amazing among high school and first-year university students.
Jazim H., a 25-year-old Saudi, used dohka for two years and left it when he developed health issues. “Dokha has become popular among youngsters because one gets high after a few puffs. Although it doesn’t have the same results like smoking weed or marijuana, the person smoking dokha gets dizzy or high for a few second and this is what attracts youngsters,” he said, adding, “I had become so used to it that I started to do it several times a day. There were times when I felt sick and nauseated. After a long period of times, I learned the harmful effects of dokha and stopped doing it.”