The Dean of the College of Pharmacy at the Colleges of Knowledge, and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Anti-Smoking Charitable Society “Naqaa,” Dr. Muhammad bin Jaber Al-Yamani, questioned the validity of the figures circulating about the percentage of smokers in the Kingdom from a scientific and methodological standpoint.
This came during his speech on the “My Health” program on the Cultural Channel, where Dr. Al-Yamani confirmed, saying: “I say with all my mouth as a specialist in the health field that it is not exonerated as statistics.”
Dr. Al-Yamani added that the numbers we are circulating, which indicate that there are 6 million smokers and 600,000 female smokers, and that smoking rates among men are in the range of 25,%, among women, 7,%, and among youth and school students, in the range of 13,%, are approximate studies and no You can depend on her.
Al-Yamani stressed that the decision to apply the selective added tax on smoking at a rate of 100,% will contribute to combating the phenomenon of smoking and the decline in the number of smokers in the Kingdom, noting that the tax will affect the packet of cigarettes, jars of jars, and honey.
He stated that indicators before implementing the tax revealed an increase in the number of those thinking about quitting smoking, stressing that the Kingdom took a positive step by approving the tax to reduce the phenomenon of smoking.
Dr. Al-Yamani asked about the share of smoking awareness associations from the sums of the excise tax imposed, calling in this regard for the collection of sums from the value of the tax for the benefit of charitable societies in the field of awareness of the harms of smoking.
He pointed out that the Kingdom’s imports of tobacco products in 2014 were around 3.5 billion, and if the added tax was added to it, we would have 7.5 billion. He continued by saying, “They gave us only 700 million of them to make people aware of the harms of smoking.”
The Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Anti-Smoking Charitable Society “Naqaa” noted that tobacco prices in the Kingdom are among the cheapest in the world, reiterating his warning of the dangers of smoking that threaten the health of the world and humanity, pointing out that 10 million smokers die annually and that smokers lose ages from 10 to 13. One year, according to a British study that lasted 50 years.
