DrugFreeAZKids.org understands the importance of communicating with your children. We want to share the necessary tools and information with you for starting these important conversations. Talking with your child about the dangers of drugs can reduce the chance of them using by up to 50 percent. This is why we bring you a series of regular blog posts, each focusing on a specific drug. It will cover the drug’s common names, effects and the important details parents should know.
Today’s post in our 411 Drug Series examines hookahs.
What is it and what does it look like?
A hookah is a tobacco pipe with a long, flexible rubber hose that draws the specially made tobacco smoke through water contained in a bowl to a mouthpiece.
Other street names?
· Hubbly Bubbly
· Water Pipe
· Narghile
· Shisha
· Goza
· Huka
What are the short- and long-term effects of the tobacco used in hookahs?
· Heart and cardiovascular disease
· Cancer of the lung, larynx, esophagus, bladder, mouther, pancreas and kidney
· Emphysema
· Chronic bronchitis
What every parent should know?
The specially made tobacco can come in sweet fruity flavors that are inserted into a bowl underneath burning charcoal that is used to heat the tobacco. Since tobacco is being used, users are also being exposed to nicotine, which is highly addictive in any form. The California Department of Public Health says smoking a hookah for 45 minutes to an hour can be the equivalent of smoking 100 cigarettes. Even though tobacco products cannot be sold to those under the age of 18, hookah lounges are popping up all over Arizona, making it easier for teens to access the substance.
The mission of DrugFreeAZKids.org is to provide parents with the information they need to educate their kids about dangerous substances. In addition to this blog series, we offer other valuable tools, such as webinars and evidence-based workshops to help parents raise healthy, drug-free children.
To learn more about how to prevent drug and alcohol use by teens, visit DrugFreeAZKids.org.
