The Growing Problem of Shisha
The smoking of Shisha among young people poses a great danger to the next generation. Shisha (Hookah) is the new chill out fad spreading like bush fire in the harmattan. It is being projected in the eyes of the public as something fashionable, trendy and cool.
I have been on a tour of an advocacy visit to secondary schools spreading the message of "Drug Use Menace" in our society. To my surprise, students often ask the same question: "What's the health implication of smoking Shisha?" A couple of thoughts always come to mind: words and action create images and expectations. This is why we must be careful: what happens around children would and condition their thinking and actions. They see these things in public imaginations as nothing short of normal and fashionable. This surely is one of the reasons I decided to share my thoughts. The rate at which children embrace Shisha is alarming. So, for this assignment, I visited a few so-called Shisha lounge/bar/café and shops selling Shisha and its constituents. These lounges are strategically located at places frequented by youths.
Shisha is a glass- bottomed-jar water-pipe (Hookah) in which fruit-flavoured tobacco and molasses/sugar covered with foil and roasted with charcoal is placed, making it tastes silky and smells sweet with a pleasurable, unhurried treat. The tobacco smoke passes through a water chamber and is inhaled deeply and slowly via a hose pipe attachment. The users puff dense clouds of smoke from their noses and mouths.
But it is worthy to note that young people are being deceived by those who claim that Shisha is a safer alternative to tobacco. Smoking Shisha harms almost every organ of the body and causes ill health. Carcinogens (aerosol, tar and heavy metal particles) and nicotine present in cigarettes which make them dangerous for human health are present in Shisha and, therefore equally or even more harmful.
Nicotine is the main addictive ingredient of tobacco. When somebody smokes a Shisha or cigarette, nicotine is rapidly absorbed by the lungs and delivered to the brain. According to a research by World Health Organisation (WHO) cigarette smokers generally inhale eight to 12 puffs over five to seven minutes, whereas a Shisha session lasts 20 to 80 minutes and involves 50 to 200 puffs. Therefore, the volume of smoke inhaled in an hour-long Shisha session by any smoker is estimated to be the equivalent of smoking between 100 and 200 sticks of cigarettes. The end product of both cigarette and Shisha is the same: a smoke containing carcinogens including those responsible for cardiovascular disease (carbon monoxide), lung disease (volatile aldehydes), cancer (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and addiction (nicotine).
Thus Shisha is implicated in many noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease, tuberculosis, cancer, chronic lung disease and diabetes. The smoking materials are rarely cleaned. A single hookah is enough for a group of 10 to smoke tobacco to their satisfaction, sharing also the mouthpiece which helps in the spread of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, herpes, and influenza, among users.
But almost every young girl or boy trapped in this act is driven by the youthful belief that it doesn't harm. Many also indulge in this unwholesome act as a result of curiosity to know how it differs from a cigarette, and peer influence. Yet the reality of Shisha is far from the rosy picture seen in music and movies.
Perhaps the most disturbing fact now is that people mix it with other drugs like hemp and the scent masked with flavours such as Apple, Mint, Cappuccino, Peach, etc.
Thus, just like cigarettes, pragmatic measures should be taken to curb or control this menace. Only through this we can create the appropriate map and plot the path of our journey to a better society for ourselves, for our children and their children.