Illicit fags take heavy toll on teen smokers
HE COUGHS, coughs and coughs until he coughs up gray phlegm.
“I was coughing and wheezing all night -- I just couldn’t sleep,” a 14-year-old boy said to his friend sitting beside him.
Yet, between his two right fingers was a stick of cheap cigarette, combusting the tobacco unceasingly.
The youngster is a smoker - - a teen smoker -- and therefore, could be suffering the ill effects of cigarette smoking.
Indeed, smoking habit is rampant among teenagers in Sabah and Sarawak nowadays and abundant cheap illicit cigarettes are mainly the culprits.
It’s amazing how early kids start smoking these days.
The teenager who is coughing gray phlegm, reveals he began smoking at 12 together with the rest of his social group.
Random encounters with teen smokers seem to suggest that to them, smoking is fashionable nowadays.
As they are all adolescents, their names cannot be revealed but don’t they realise the harm they are doing to themselves through nicotine addiction? Deadly habit
Cigarette smoking kills nearly six million people in the world each year. In Malaysia alone, toxicity caused by smoking claims as many as 10,000 lives annually.
For every “smoking” death, at least three others are left with health consequences, including mostly heart and lung diseases although many other organs can be also affected as shown by graphic illustrations on most cigarette packs.
The smoke from cigarettes is dangerous. Burning tobacco releases a raft of poisonous chemicals which are found to be carcinogenic (cancer causing).
So far, about 7,000 poisonous materials have been identified, including arsenic and benzene.
These combusted materials are often referred to as tar which is often implicated in the health consequences of smoking together with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons released in tobacco smoke itself.
Yes, most teens know the risks but still, they smoke and continue to smoke. So, why do they do it?
“I know it’s doing me damage and every time I have a cigarette, I remember all those ads about the types of ailments a smoker can get – like diseased lungs and hearts for instance -- and it’s really gross.
“I’m damaging my body everyday I do this. I know that,” a 15-year-old boy confessed. Peer pressure
Another boy, 13, said he started smoking about a year ago. Asked why, he replied: “Peer pressure, I suppose.
Yet another boy, 15, revealed he started smoking when he was 12.
“My brother made me smoke with him,” he revealed.
A 16-year-old drop-out admitted having his first puff at 12, saying: “It began as casual social pastime with my friends but soon turned into a habit.”
His friend from the same social group and also a dropout, said he started at 13.
“I guess my father and my peers influenced me. Yes, my father is a big influence. He smokes at home and hasn’t stopped yet.
“Yeah, I like it. It makes me feel like a grown-up,” he exclaimed.
Asked what kept them smoking, most young smokers put it down to addiction.
They claimed they had tried smoking without inhalation but through socialising with other smokers, they learned to draw the smoke into their lungs with each puff -- and in no time, “real time” smoking had become second nature. Anti-smoking
Several public health initiatives to prevent teens from smoking have been taken in Malaysia.
They include raising cigarette taxes; passing laws to restrict exposure to second-hand smoke (passive smoking) and tobacco advertising; discouraging young people from buying cigarettes and launching “quit-smoking” campaigns in the mass media.
Moreover, a number of schoolbased prevention programmes are offered nationwide.
Malaysia now imposes stiff penalties on cigarette vendors who sell to minors. Eighteen is the legal smoking age in the country.
Those found selling cigarettes to children risk a RM10,000 fine and a two-year jail term.
Graphic images have also been introduced as part of the packaging and labelling.
Images are printed on cigarette boxes showing, among others, miscarriages, gangrene and other serious health conditions -- all linked to smoking.
As a measure to discourage students from smoking, the minimum cigarettes that can be sold in a box is 20.
On top of that, the government has stepped up its Tak Nak antismoking campaign complete with billboards, advertisements and other means. Little impact
However, these efforts seem to have little or no impact.
Most teens continue to smoke because all sorts of illicit cigarettes are available in the market.
Latest statistics on smoking patterns among minors are not available but a survey carried out in 2012 listed Sabah and Sarawak among the states with the highest number of teenage smokers -between 13 and 17.
According to a global study, more than a third of boys in Malaysia -between 13 and 15 – are smokers.
The study showed 36.3 per cent of Malaysian schoolboys smoked, hence placing the country among the top in the world for male smokers in this age range.
Published by the American Cancer Society in 2012, the study also said boys began smoking during their youth due to peer pressure, misconception that smoking is cool or enhances popularity, easy access to tobacco products, cigarette pricing and tobacco marketing.
The study also showed 4.2 per cent of girls between 13 and 15 smoked.
It indicated that tobacco marketing and the low price of cigarettes contributed to youths smoking. Illicit fags
In Sabah and Sarawak - or Malaysia in general – there are simply too many illicit cigarettes floating around.
Smokers have a choice – to smoke legitimate or illicit cigarettes.
A pack of 20s British American Tobacco’s (BAT) leading legitimate cigarette brands costs between RM10.50 and RM12.
On the other hand, a pack of 20 illicit cigarettes can go as low as RM1.60 and as high as only RM3.50. This makes it accessible to youths at pocket money price.
Illicit cigarettes may be divided into two categories – contrabands and counterfeits.
Contrabands are cigarettes smuggled from abroad without domestic duty paid while counterfeitsarethosemanufactured without authorisation of the rightful owners with intent to deceive consumers. Third highest
A report by the International Tax and Investment Centre and Oxford Economics in 2013 indicated that Malaysia has the third highest illicit consumption of cigarettes among 11 Asian countries surveyed.
What they were talking about were cheaply manufactured brands of cigarettes.
There are reportedly over 100 illegal brands in the market in the country, mainly smuggled from other Asian countries.
Anecdotal evidence suggests a huge number of youths – both urban and rural – in Sabah and Sarawak can buy illegal cigarettes.
In fact, the influx of inexpensive and easily available cigarettes has derailed efforts to prevent teens from smoking.
Illegal cigarettes can be purchased at the same cost as a packet of candy, inevitably driving the increase in demand by teens for these items.
In some parts of the cities, towns and districts in the state, illegal cigarettes are sold openly in the streets.
In the urban, suburb and rural areas, for instance, the volume of illegal cigarettes seem to outnumber the legitimate brands.
Illegal cigarettes are sold more discreetly in towns and are usually hidden behind the counter.
“Smokers, especially teen smokers, usually buy cheap cigarettes because they can’t afford the legitimate brands,” said a coffee shop operator.
But can efforts to get rid of illicit cigarettes -- which are taking a heavy toll on the health of teen smokers -- achieve the desired results?
That, in essence, is the burning question to which the answer may still prove illusive.