Bullying Smokers

Bullying smokers won't make them quit !!

Just been reading an article in the DM by NHS psychiatrist Max Pemberton and at the risk of making me an instant outcast on here once a smoking thread appears, I must say I agree wholeheartedly with him. Having gone cold turkey in Dec 2013 and giving up smoking after smoking for over 50 years, I can honestly say I know what I am talking about on this subject. Even anti-smokers that I know that argue with me over the subject think this has all gone too far with a persons life-style being constantly interfered with in our democracy.
Please continue reading this and give your views on it,
I appreciate it is rather a long article and I will probably have cramp in my fingers by the time I finish typing this

QUOTE

Of all the numskull ideas public health officials have come up with, this one take the biscuit.
Banning smoking OUTSIDE pubs is the latest harebrained idea from people who seem to have nothing better to do than antagonise and irritate the public.

The Royal Society for Public Health wants exclusion zones around pubs, clubs and public buildings. It claims that making the habit more "inconvenient" will encourage more people into giving up.

Really? Aside from the fact that there's no clear evidence it would work, this suggestion makes health officials look like sanctimonious busybodies.

I wholeheartedly support the ban on smoking INSIDE pubs and restaurants that was introduced eight years ago - and it is clear it's had a dramatic impact. It's nice to go out for a meal or a drink and not stink of smoke afterwards. But banning smoking in the open air is an entirely different matter. It's emblematic of all that makes me loathe public health officials and their holier-than-thou finger-wagging.

Doctors are supposed to engage patients and work collaboratively with them - but too often they resort to nagging. But that just alienates people and stops them seeking help.
Part of the problem, I think, is that the medics who come up with these pronouncements are woefully out of touch.
They've never smoked and don't really understand what it's like to be a smoker.
If they did, they wouldn't say such daft things - and they would understand that by doing so, they only push smokers further away.

Until a few years ago, I loved smoking. I was a total nicotine junkie for about 20 years. At one point, I was getting through 40 cigarettes a day, as well as using nicotine patches. So I know what it's like for smokers, and I have every sympathy for them.
Being addicted to something makes you feel powerless and chaotic. The craving takes control of your life - and the last thing you want is a bossy doctor trying to control you too.
I remember this feeling all too well and how the idea of going to see my GP for help filled me with dread. I already felt under pressure from my addiction. I didn't want more from my doctor.
And a smoker's main way of dealing with pressure is of course to light up.

I never once told my GP that I smoked because I couldn't face the pursed lips and disapproval. I blatantly lied to her face on several occasions when she asked me outright, and I've had patients sit in front of me, stinking of smoke, and do exactly the same.

I think it's very telling that e-cigarettes are the most popular method used by people quitting smoking. It's far more popular than the prescribed nicotine replacement therapy - gum, patches or sprays - despite the fact that many people can get these free on the NHS.
I'm certain this is because e-cigarettes mean smokers can avoid seeing their GP and remain in control of giving up.
Yet, how does the medical profession respond? Rather than celebrating the fact that people have found something that helps them quit tobacco, many doctors are up in arms, demanding that e-cigarettes are banned.
They say they emit potentially "toxic" chemicals that could effect bystanders. But where's the evidence of any harm?
There isn't any. Absolute zilch. I think doctors resent the fact that people have found something they like and that works for them, and are shunning the official NHS route to being smoke-free.
They're even more upset that some smokers have simply switched to e-cigarettes and show no intention of giving up at all. How dare they!
But so what if people choose to remain addicted to nicotine from a device that doesn't deliver the tar, arsenic and other chemicals that do real damage?

To it's credit, the Royal Society for Public Health accepts that nicotine is, in itself, no more harmful than caffeine. It graciously accepts that - even in it's brave new world where smoking is banned outside pubs - you should still be allowed to use e-cigarettes.
Just don't call them e-cigarettes. Apparently that's a thought crime because it associates them with tobacco. Instead - according to to the Royal Society for Public Health - we should call them "nicotine sticks" or "vapourisers"

Don't you want to weep? A flash of common sense, then that-Doctor-knows-best silliness kicks in.
There is no doubt smoking is a serious blight. it kills 200 people a day in Britain. But you don't help smokers quit by being bossy, self-righteous bigots.

UNQUOTE

What's your view on this? Do you agree that smoking should be banned outside? Remember that smoking is lawful, The majority of smokers have been happy to comply with the law stating that smoking is banned inside public premises. They already have to stand outside in the wind, the rain and the snow of winter to enjoy their cigarette or cigar. Why on earth should they be banned from doing even that ??!!!

Re: Bullying Smokers

Its a good article
I'm so tired of hearing about smoking when the drinkers don't get a mention unless they kill someone - beat someone - or cause acts of vandalism, all of which a smoker does not do, due to a few ciggies
Makes me very irritated

Re: Bullying Smokers

It's certainly true Patsy, however, I believe the drinker will be the next target on the Dept of Public Health's hit-list. Sometimes I think they come out with these headline grabbing ideas in order to justify their sanctimonious, do-as-I-say existence. Seems to me that they must worry, if no-one is listening to them anymore and they are not in the glare of publicity as they were during the smoking ban, will they be targeted by the government as part of their cost cutting exercise.

Re: Bullying Smokers

I would rather put up with a smoker than a drunk any day of the week.

If you added up the figures, I wonder how many deaths, have an alcohol element to them, deaths from alcohol caused illnesses, then add in deaths from injuries received in acts of violence by people under the influence, and deaths from road accidents involving drink drivers. I would imagine the figures would be frighteningly high , so to be fair why not ban drinking ?

Re: Bullying Smokers

I am an ex-smoker, I gave up umteeum years ago,. Knowing how difficult kicking the habit was, I have every sympathy with smokers. I do not see anything wrong in smoking in the open air, in the winter the discomfort might create a few more ex-smokers. Surely that is a ban too far? Help smokers do not alienate them.

Re: Bullying Smokers

Fat chance M & M. Once the so called do gooders had there first victory it now has to be total alienation.

Any smoker will honestly agree that they don't mind certain restrictions for the good of the community, but that will never be good enough. They have to be wiped out, stamped on and eradicated.

There is irony in an obese drunken busy body telling a smoker they are filthy and dirty

Re: Bullying Smokers

How about banning anyone from eating more than 1500 calories a day. That will save lots of people from an early death.

Re: Bullying Smokers

I was about to say if smokers think they have it bad try being over weight, I haven't heard of anyone being denied a job or being jeered at in the street !

Re: Bullying Smokers

Yer avin a laugh Julie. Stand outside your local pub nicotine patch and see how smokers are treated

Re: Bullying Smokers

They all seems to be having a good time to me when I come home in the evenings, standing around polluting the area - I have to sweep up after them some days disgusting mess that gets walked along the pavement to the front of our offices.