Fucking crazy
A childhood habit
Diana believes Aldi's addiction began with peer pressure and exposure to smokers. He accompanied her each morning to the market where she sells vegetables grown on their land. People there could have taught him to smoke, and he could easily get cigarettes by asking at the market, she said.
In many regions of the world, this might seem unrealistic and like an excuse, but in Indonesia, it's highly likely. The country has the highest percentage of male smokers globally and among the highest rate of adolescent and child smokers in the world -- fueled by lack of control over advertising, relaxed sales and low prices.
Mulyadi believes the one benefit of working with children who have an addiction is their mental agility. In Aldi's case, his age and intelligence meant he responded quickly to his treatment, in which Mulyadi distracted the 8-year-old with running, climbing and playing while slowly reducing the number of cigarettes he smoked each day. But treatment was intense and required Aldi to go to Jakarta for a few months to be with Mulyadi every day.
He was just 3 years old, and he smoked four packs a day," Mulyadi said. "(But) I was confident because he is still very young. Psychologically, as a child, he is very flexible and easier to be cured."
And cured he is -- at least for now.
"I don't want to smoke anymore. I don't want to get sick," said Aldi, who now wants to help prevent other children going through a similar ordeal. "Please don't smoke. Don't even try it. It's hard to quit."
In 2013, more than 57% of men were reported to be smokers in Indonesia and more than 42% of teens ages 13 to 15, according to the Tobacco Atlas, compared with 17% and 8.2%, respectively, in the United States. It's estimated that more than 217,000 people die from diseases linked to tobacco use each year in Indonesia, including heart disease and respiratory conditions such as emphysema and lung cancer.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/30/health...sia/index.html