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From Facebook NotesI just read the article below and although it's information we all already know, it seems it's not being said enough.
Shisha, like cigarettes is pure peer-pressure. It's stupid. Everyone knows it. And yet, people still feel they look cool or whatever if they've got a hose hanging from their lips.
It's not to look cool? My mistake. Well it's certainly not to relax either. If others can relax drug-free, so can you.
Ah, it's not to relax iether, it's because you enjoy the taste? Eat a real fruit for God's sake! And not one, even two apples if you must. Just don't inhale the damn thing!
When Dubai started the whole smoking ban in public places thing, many people began to complain (including my hubby who then got over it and is now nicotine-free from almost two years, yey hubby!) and smokers accused the government of discriminating against them! Yes! Discrimination! My heart breaks at their pain! They felt hurt that because they're smokers they are now marginalized and looked upon as "bad". Tears are falling from my eyes as I type this.
Well, too bad.
The only way to get rid of this social disease is to simply be tough and as inflexible and uncompromising as we possible can.
Make it as hard as possible for people to smoke.
Use peer-pressure for a good cause for once.
I really find it horrifying (and quite ridiculous) how despite the fact that everyone is aware of the dangers of smoking, people still find it acceptable to smoke.
IT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
IT IS ACTUALLY CRAZY, and to say the least disgusting.
Oh, and yes, shisha IS smoking.
And please don't pull the "I'm not addicted, I can stop any time I like" line because if you could, you would.
Why?
I won't go over all the diseases, people seem to think they can only happen to others. I will just say that when you go out to have some fun, you don't want to come home at night smelling like shit. And regardless of what you smoke (and the very sexy flavors available) you'll come back home smelling like shit (and so will your friends). Also, if the flavors are sexy, that doesn't mean that a huge cloud of smoke getting out of your mouth (and nose) is sexy too. Smoking makes you look as bad as it makes you smell.
Kindly allow me to reiterate: Thick, gray fumes getting out of a person's face are never, under any circumstance a pretty sight.
And please don't preach me about democracy, liberties and freedom!
YOURS ENDS WHERE THE LIBERTY/FREEDOM OF OTHERS BEGINS.
In other words, if you want to smoke, die of a horrible disease and smell like crap, knock yourself out! Just do it where you don't bother anyone. In specifically designated smoking zones. These areas allow you to enjoy your stuff and protects others, so when I see one of these designated areas, I know to stay away. Just like it's OK for nudist to enjoy their nude beaching experience. As long as they don't force it on others. Which is why they have designated locations and people who don't want to see other people naked can avoid these locations.
This is freedom : where everyone's needs and concerns are respected.
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You think that shisha’s safer than cigarettes? It might be time to think again
Imagine lying in a hospital bed paralysed. You cannot breathe and your legs – including your gangrenous toes – have been removed, all because the arteries that carry blood to them have become blocked. In case you’re wondering, you’re suffering from Peripheral Vascular Disease (PVD), a condition you’re two and a half times more likely to contract if you’re a smoker.
Of course, PVD isn’t the only potentially lethal condition that smokers are more likely to develop than non smokers. According to the World Health Organization, every eight seconds someone dies from a smoking-related disease. ‘Of course you die younger,’ Dr John Callaghan, chief medical officer at the General Medical Clinic in Jumeirah, says.
‘If you take identical twins, and one starts smoking at 20 and the other doesn’t, then the smoker pops his clogs up to 10 years before the other guy, all things being equal.’ The prospect of taking 10 years off your life (not to mention the increased risk of contracting a crippling disease), of course, should provide ample incentive for anyone to stay off the fags. However, here in Dubai it isn’t just smoking cigarettes that offer dangerous temptation to both the smoker and non-smoker alike.
For some reason – perhaps its deep cultural roots and its sociability – here in Dubai and elsewhere in the Arab world shisha has an air (or should that be a cloud) of respectability that the humble cigarette would, er, kill for. This perception and its sweet smell may even have persuaded some that it’s a safer option. Indeed, while non-smokers might never consider picking up a Marlboro, they may be tempted to try a puff on the ornate water pipes that you can find all over this city, as our young interviewees bear witness.
‘Shisha is worse (in comparison to cigarettes) because in the shisha there’s no filter and you inhale more of the impurities with each breath,’ Dr Sabina Aidarous, of the Imperial Healthcare Institute tells us, firmly stubbing out the notion that it is safer.
‘People tend to justify smoking shisha saying it bubbles through water and therefore isn’t as harmful,’ Dr Callaghan says. ‘Bubbling of the water just reduces the temperature a little bit.’ And Dr Sabina warns that there are hidden dangers, too. ‘They are still getting addicted to the nicotine in the shisha. We have an indication of how much nicotine there is in cigarettes, but in shisha we don’t really know how much nicotine there is because it’s so unregulated,’ she says. ‘It’s interesting, because the water that the shisha bubbles through makes it worse, because the water, combined with the humidity, makes the smoke from the shisha stay in your lungs longer.’
Time Out Dubai
22 June 2009
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