"A Touch of Humour" - It's Good For Us... Isn't it?

I had the good fortune this past weekend in coming upon this, ah -- for lack of a better word -- pastime of a friend of mine's. Interestingly enough, it originated in India, and is known there as “hookah”. In other Middle Eastern countries, it may also be known as “shisha” or “water pipe smoking.” Now, the very mention of its roots in the Middle East should bring about the raising of eyebrows and skeptical of frowns. However, I assure you in this case, no mass nuclear weaponry is involved. So, after coming across pictures posted on the site becoming increasingly known as a revealer of not-so-law-abiding youth (aka Facebook), I immediately went to question my friend about her smoke-puffing faces. "It's totally safe," she assured me, as she giggled at my incredulity. I continued drilling her for more information, for despite my belief that any kind of smoking is a one-way ticket to Hades, I was intrigued. Why hadn't I heard of this non-nicotine, non-tobacco sort of drug before? Sure enough, after wikipedia-ing "shisha", I found out that it indeed did still contain tobacco, and consequently tar. Of course, anything on wikipedia must be true, so I confronted my friend again at this point. "Okay, maybe a LITTLE tobacco," she relented. I joined in her guffawing to mask my 'uncomfortableness', but I couldn't help feeling guilty for picturing her lungs coated in black tar already. What is so wrong with this world that teenagers are constantly on the merciless, unyielding search for a way to escape reality? To quell the monotony of one-hour-long classes? To lessen the heap of homework piled up to their X-Box? It seems even for the more thrill-seeking of young adolescents, marijuana and alcohol are too drab and tiresome in filling the empty void. It seems we have fallen behind even the most Neanderthal of human behaviour, if we have to lie to ourselves, repeating in a dogged chant, "It's perfectly safe! I'm not addicted! It's not going to hurt me!" Is it what we truly believe, or is it just the safety net we can fall into should we ever be accused of doing something "wrong"? Maybe it’s actually advancement; maybe it's really regression. It depends on your point of view: amazing that we’ve moved down a ladder rung for the amount of harmful substances we deposit into our body, or depressing that we still think inhaling tar is pretty cool, and that we like to pretend it’s not as bad?