7 Year-Old Boy Smokes 16 Cigarettes A Day And Guess Who Takes The Blame

A seven-year-old boy who has been addicted to cigarettes since he was just THREE now smokes 16 fags daily – after cutting down from three packets a day, Mirror Online reports.

According to the media, Dihan Awalidan, from West Java in Indonesia, is just one of the handful of young boys in the small village of Cicapar who reject more traditional playtime pursuits in favour of a smoke.

Together with three of his friends, Nawan, 11, Jujun, 7 and Dede, 8, Dihan lights up approximately 16 times a day – and his parents say they’re powerless to stop him. He buys his Kretek cigarettes with pocket money or steals coins from his mother’s purse to fund the habit.

Both his parents smoke and Dihan is constantly bombarded by the abundance of advertising from tobacco companies in the region. But despite his parents’ and teachers’ pleading, the young boy is unable to quit and often disappears to nearby paddy fields to get his fix.

His father Iyan, 36, said: “Dihan has been smoking since the age of three. At that time he could smoke three packs of cigarettes.
“If he was not given cigarette money he would get angry or steal cigarettes.”

Now Dihan has cut down – but refuses to quit entirely. Despite the graphic health warnings displayed prominently on the packets, the young boys believe the images to be fake. But Dihan’s lips have already begun to turn black from the amount of tar he inhales into his young lungs.

However, Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids blames the government.

Matt said: “What we have in Indonesia is a perfect storm. It is a government that is failing to protect to its children, an industry that is marketing its products like it was sixty years ago. Indonesia has more young people smoking under the age of 10 than any other country that has been identified.
“If you drive around Indonesia you are saturated with tobacco images. Smoking is not just an easy habit to pick up there, it’s the cultural norm, fostered by the kind of advertising we haven’t seen in the West in 50 years. It is a failure of government and it is a failure of industry.”

More than 61 million people in Indonesia smoke and two thirds of the male population are hooked on the habit.