Smoking epidemic rising among Pakistani females

ISLAMABAD: The evils of smoking and drug addiction were once confined to teenagers and males in our society. However, this notion seems to fade away as more and more women, belonging particularly to the lower and upper strata are using tobacco, sheesha, and drugs raising concerns among the drug-rehabilitation quarters.

“Females belonging to lower and upper class of society are among the drug addicts as most of them go out of their homes and have interaction with males while the middle class females are less prone to the menace due to their parents’ control on them,” said an official of Anti Narcotics Force (ANF).

Recently, the negative impacts of smoking in females have generated heated debate around the globe and now different segments of society are also discussing the ways to control female drug addiction.

“Tobacco use negatively affects every human organ and is the most prevalent cause of premature death among adults. As compared to nonsmoking women, those who smoke cigarettes have greater reproductive health problems, many forms of cancers, coronary and vascular diseases, chronic obstructive lung disease, and osteoporosis,” said Dr. Zoofishan Jabeen Fatima, Deputy Director at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).

Parents of female drug addicts call the Rehabilitation centers when their girls go out of control and they get the treatment mostly at their homes on the condition of not disclosing their identity. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, cellulitis, and liver disease. Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health condition of the abuser, as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration.

There should be constant awareness campaigns to educate teenagers about the dangerous impacts of smoking particularly in women. Brief behavioral counseling and use of evidence-based smoking cessation aids are effective strategies for achieving smoking cessation even for chain smokers, she said.

Drugs mostly used by the addicts include Opium, Morphine, Heroine, Cannabis, Hashish, Marijuana, and cocaine, Ecstasy, Methamphetamine and Buprenorphine.