That’s quite an alarming percentage to say the least. Of course this type of competitions is productive and efficient but the problem is much bigger than few awareness campaigns and a smoking ban law. In fact, even though the smoking ban law is in effect now, a company was offering us free cigarette packs at a restaurant in Antelias the other day.
Putting corruption and weak law enforcement aside, what would be useful for us to know is how many of these 59.2% were encouraged by their parents to smoke for the first time, or whether schools are taking the proper measures to prevent such behaviors, because kids aged 13 or 14 mostly hang out at malls or at restaurants and these are usually strict when it comes to serving alcohol/shisha or a cigarette to minors.