Participants at a symposium held on Friday in Rabat, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day (May 31), advocated for increased restrictions on the tobacco industry and trade in order to limit the spread of smoking among young people.

At the opening of this two-day meeting, initiated by the Centre for Studies and Research on Drugs and the Environment (CERDE) under the theme "All against the tobacco industry", speakers, specialists, academics, civil society actors, teachers, and students called for the implementation of the law prohibiting smoking in public places, increasing the price of cigarettes to limit consumption, and banning the sale of tobacco products to children and adolescents.

Raising awareness about the dangers of tobacco through regular actions, rather than seasonal campaigns with limited effect, mobilizing all means to reach the maximum number of social categories, particularly young people, and focusing on the family and school as the first lines of defence against the bad habits fostering this scourge, were also among the points raised by the participants of this symposium, initiated in collaboration with Mohammed V-Agdal University and the Moroccan League for the Fight against Diabetes.

In this sense, the various speakers emphasized the importance of conducting concerted work, involving the relevant departments (Health, Education, Higher Education) and NGOs, and promoting a pedagogical approach based on peer learning as an effective method to ensure a very broad awareness of the seriousness of this phenomenon among young people.

"In the issue of smoking, there are two parties: The industrialists who derive colossal profits from this trade and use their power to promote and preserve it, and the consumers who suffer its harmful effects," stressed Mohamed Soufi, president of CERDE, to the MAP, adding that "multinationals, which are thus a stakeholder in this problem, must assume their responsibility in repairing the damage they cause to consumers".

Failing to be able to completely eliminate the tobacco industry, it is important to curb the sale of its products, reduce its turnover, and thus minimize the damage it causes to public health and the environment, he said, calling, in this framework, for the implementation of national legislation and international conventions dealing with this phenomenon, notably the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

The opening of this meeting was also marked by the signing of cooperation agreements between CERDE, on the one hand, and Mohammed V-Agdal University and the Moroccan League for the Fight against Diabetes, on the other, covering, among other things, the promotion of awareness and training actions intended for school and university environments.

Several themes will be addressed during this meeting, moderated by specialists, but also by students from establishments under the Rabat Academy of Education and Training.

These include the effects of smoking on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems and the skin, women and smoking, young people and cigarettes, Moroccan legislation prohibiting smoking in public places, the contribution of civil society, and the role of multinationals.

World No Tobacco Day has been celebrated every year on May 31 since 1988, under the aegis of the WHO, with the aim of promoting global awareness of the dangers of tobacco for the health of consumers and those around them.

In 2013, this Day is focused on the ban on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, particularly with a view to protecting young people.

According to the WHO, most tobacco users fall into this deadly addiction before the age of 20. Studies indicate that about a third of young people who try tobacco do so because they have been exposed to the promotion of this product.