AMMAN — Parents are understandably worried that children smoking electronic
cigarettes could become a serious and widespread problem, as experts assert that kids often imitate one another’s bad habits without regard for consequences.
اضافة اعلان
Since allowing the import of electronic cigarettes and their accessories, and allowing their sale from mid-2019, imports of electronic cigarettes into the Kingdom amounted to 11.72 tonnes in 2020 and 2021, while imports of vape juice for the same period amounted to 18.59 tonnes, according data issued by the Food and Drug Administration, Ad-Dustour reported.
“I noticed that some of my children’s classmates smoke, and make light of this bad habit,” Rami Khalili, a father, told
Jordan News.
“When you encounter children, you notice that they are all using the same cigarette and laughing out loud, just as if it is a joke,” Khalili said.
He wondered why children at such a young age smoke at all. “I assume it is just because they are imitating older people. I do not want to generalize, but obviously you would do such a thing when you notice your parents at home smoking,” Khalili said, adding that as a father it is his role to set the best possible example to his children and therefore he controls his behavior in front of them at least.
Yasser Al-Saleh, another father, told
Jordan News: “I’m always afraid that my children will learn this habit one day, despite the fact that I always sit with them and talk to them about how harmful smoking is.”
He said that students may be forbidden from smoking inside schools, but they can still smoke in restaurants, cafes, and on the streets.
“That is why I believe that we should all work together to combat this before it grows and turns into a phenomenon among children,” said Saleh.
Rund Haddadin, a teacher at an all-girls school, told
Jordan News in an interview that that none of her students smoke.
“Maybe this is a widespread behavior among boys. I don’t believe it is a phenomenon,” Haddadin said, adding that awareness campaigns may be effective.
“Not only for children; adults should quit smoking, too. We all know that smoking kills,” she said.
Yazan Natsheh, a tobacco shop employee, told
Jordan News that children often come by to try to purchase cigarettes of various types, but that he refuses to sell them any.
“When they insist, I ask them to bring one of their parents with them. Some of them pretend to be over 18, and I’ll ask for their IDs if I suspect that’s the case,” Natsheh said. “I believe it is my role to protect them,” he said.
He called on parents to pay attention to their children’s behavior, and urged tobacco shop employees to refuse to sell their products to minors.
A source at the Ministry of Education told
Jordan News that their students are given periodic seminars on the dangers and consequences of smoking, adding that “I assume that there are just individual cases among students who smoke.”
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