Smoking cessation

Dear editor,

I wish to draw your attention to the continuously increasing trend of smoking in Pakistan.

According to cautious estimates, the number of smokers in Pakistan has now exceeded thirty million. Most of these are cigarette smokers. What is even more concerning is that many of these smokers are young people.

If we want to reduce the rate of smoking in Pakistan, we must first help those smokers who, despite their efforts, have not been able to free themselves from this habit. For this, it is essential to provide adult smokers with smoking cessation services. Unfortunately, such services are almost nonexistent in Pakistan.

Furthermore, we must also examine how the rest of the world, particularly developed countries, is dealing with this issue. In developed nations, tobacco harm reduction strategies are employed to lower smoking rates. These strategies help reduce the harmful effects of tobacco use. The diseases caused by smoking stem entirely from tar particles and toxic gases inhaled through the smoke produced when tobacco is burned. If smokers were to receive only nicotine without the other dangerous substances, they could be protected from all such diseases.