Othaim, Chairman of the Kafa Society for Awareness of the Dangers of Tobacco and Narcotics, has said that its work to combat smoking and drug abuse is suffering from a shortage of funds and rising costs. “We will overcome it though,” Al-Othaim assured in a press statement. “We are completely committed to getting our message across.” The statement, released as Kafa launched its fifth national awareness campaign on Wednesday, said the society's strategy was to focus on “future generations and personal convictions to produce a generation that neither smokes nor abuses drugs”. “Our programs to highlight the dangers of smoking and drugs are specifically aimed at young men and women,” Al-Othaim said. Abdullah Sarouji, the executive manager of Kafa, said that the programs – whose rising costs were, according to Al-Othaim, exacerbating the society's financial constraints - involved a wide range of activities. “We have cultural activities and constructive leisure activities,” Al-Sarouji said. “We have our sports league and our third cultural competition, our family festival, mobile stands that go around shopping centers, and we organize groups to go to places where young people habitually congregate to ensure that measures to protect them from smoking are in place.”
