Mentally Ill Denied the Right to Smoke
Mentally ill patients are being denied the right to smoke at a high security hospital.
I noticed the news posted on the Smoking Ban Is Shit blog.
A very high percentage of mentally ill people smoke, including 90% of people who has schizophrenia. Mentally ill people actually benefit more than most from smoker’s paradox: the nicotine in cigarettes can help improve thinking and alertness, promote calmness and improve memory.
In fact, some people have speculated that the high incidence of smoking among those with schizophrenia is due to an attempt at self medication; one research report we saw, though, concluded that in fact the high incidence was due to a difficulty in evaluating the long term risks of smoking against the temporary pleasure it gives.
There is a moral question raised here: these people have to be in a mental institution, yet while there they are being denied the right to smoke. Does the mental illness they are suffering mean that are not capable of making this choice?
That’s a trickier question than I am up to answering – however, the patients themselves have little doubt as to the answer. In revolt at this enforced ban they are launching a legal appeal at the Court of Law in London arguing that this contravenes their human rights.
What’s crazy is that there are far healthier options than smoking which are either banned in this country (Snus, the healthiest form of smokeless tobacco – unhealthier versions are sold legally) or which are discouraged (electronic cigarettes) which could allow smokers to indulge their nicotine help, reduce the damage to their health, remove the danger of passive smoking and circumnavigate the smoking ban
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