Banned in Benin : The consumption of shisha takes a new flight

Banned in Benin, the consumption of shisha has resurfaced in recent months in certain bars, restaurants, drinking establishments and other places of public events. However, a Shisha session is at least equivalent to 30 cigarettes. Proof that ignorance is becoming more and more, the thing best shared by some young people.

Consumed everywhere in Cotonou and in other cities of Benin, shisha gives morbid pleasure to young men and girls who indulge in it. Smoking shisha is addictive among consumers who, therefore, can't do without it anymore, the phenomenon being also a fashionable pleasure. Marcel Ola confides : "I smoke shisha to please myself. After a long day of work, I always go through a shisha bar to put my ideas back in place. Often, I do it alone or with friends who also like ”. Abdoul, manager of a shisha bar reveals that : “Young people come here almost every night to have shisha. Some come to rent and go and use it, others take it on the spot. Weekends are the most fruitful days for us managers ”.

Asked during a radio show, Aimé Tcheffa, sociologist, gives some reasons leading young people to consume shisha : "Not everyone smokes for the same reasons". According to him, "Some actors interviewed as part of a research work believe that it is not (the chicha) aggressive, it's flavored, it is soft, it's light, it's cold (…) ». On the reasons for inhaling this smoke, he affirms that : "Ignorance is the first reason leading young people to consume shisha".

More, the sociologist also thinks that it is to avoid smoking that more and more people prefer shisha. « 27% actors say 'me', I will no longer smoke cigarettes, so I have to find something less aggressive, something that I can take ’’, which joins the first reason ", namely ignorance. As a third reason, he evokes the fashion effect and declares : « 12% of actors interviewed say ‘’ now, this is what we smoke ’and then, followingism. 5% of actors surveyed say 'I do it because my friends do it : I am in a group where we meet twice a week in a shisha bar and then we smoke. Why am I going to draw the line if we've done everything together from high school until today ? So, I do what my comrades do ’’ ”, reports the sociologist.

Aimé Tcheffa attributes the last reason to potency and talks about those who smoke to show that they are financially powerful and estimates their number at 4%. We therefore retain, according to the sociologist, three reasons why young people engage in this practice ; ignorance that can still be called a lack of information, fashion not to mention the evolution of the world and therefore the will to do what is done to be at the same standard of living as others. This also implies a reason which is followingism and finally the will to power. This urge to show that you are a powerful and influential person is simply the assembly of ignorance, fashion and following.

One session of Shisha is equivalent to at least 30 cigarettes

Mathilde does not find any inconvenience to the practice and even thinks that it allows you to free yourself from fatigue. Also for Alfred, "Shisha is not bad, it's not drugs, it's just a drink that helps digestion ". He explains that he takes it at least three or four times a week and that he feels good after each session.. But opinions are divided. Yves O. think that : "It is a practice that is not worthy of a responsible". For him, young people should know what is useful to them and avoid harming their own health. Lafia Kamel, doctor cardiologist calls the shisha "death at slow speed".

In a radio show, he reveals that "like any substance that burns, the shisha contains nearly four thousand (4.000) toxic substances. The aromas are present more for their deceptive effects, because it's sweet and what's sweet isn't bad ; this is precisely what is misleading ". He adds that behind this deceptive effect, the consequences are “terrible and dramatic”.

According to doctor Lafia, shisha compotes several narcotics including nicotine, carbon monoxide and tar. This is to say that nothing takes the shisha away from the cigarette because it contains practically the same harmful substances. The cardiologist says that "Shisha is a drug that ends up making you addictive a bit like cigarettes" because it contains nicotine.

The doctor lists some diseases caused by shisha. “The first danger is lung cancer. Smoking is one of the causes, if not the number one cause, of lung cancer, which is normal because when you inhale the smoke, it goes in the lung. There is also heart disease which kills a person every two seconds.. The shisha also creates disorders in the brain and degenerations "

While, according to the study referred to by sociologist Aimé Tcheffa, 19% of smokers are women, doctor Kamel says it is very dangerous during pregnancy. "All of a woman's organs can be affected : stomach, liver, the kidney, but it is mainly cancers and diseases of the heart and vessels that this causes ". To believe it, a puff of shisha makes about ten cigarettes. "When you do a shisha session, that makes you between thirty and forty cigarettes consumed. This represents a danger even for smoker names when they are close to smokers ”. Pipe sharing also exposes shisha lovers to liver disease.

For the sociologist Aimé Tcheffa, it is simply a new phenomenon. For its part, Léonce A, teacher, believes that the big problem is that these young people who take these narcotics do not inform themselves about the dangers they run.

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