Nonsensical Priorities: Smoking

Now I do a lot of thinking, as I'm sure as many of you all do. But throughout my life I've looked at certain things and thought, that just makes no sense. Today I want to talk about smoking but more specifically the laws around smoking. My local hospital has published online it's status as a smoke-free site effective May 31st, 2017. This would mean smoking would not be permitted anywhere on the premise, within building or outside. We're currently in October 2019 and If I was to go down now and drive past the main entrance, I would see small groups of people sat/stood smoking. Many of these are actual patients too, which baffles me even more. How is one in hospital being treated for their health but going out to ruin their health even more whilst they're there? The NHS is already on the verge of a crisis and is in need of money and cost reductions. Treating patients who are by choice ruining their health more by smoking whilst being treated, only to come back possibly in the future to be treated for something caused by this smoking is frankly stupid. The cost of treating cancer patients for the NHS is around £5 billion and when you factor in other costs to society such as loss of productivity, this rises to an astonishing £18.3 billion. Cancer is a horrible illness and is a trial for all those suffering and their families and friends around them, but there's so much we can do to help prevent and reduce the amount of people diagnosed. Failure to enforce no smoking rules in public places such as hospitals doesn't make matters better, rather worsens them.

Another example that doesn't make sense is the laws around smoking itself. You are allowed to be 16 to smoke without risking it being confiscated by a police officer but 18 to actually buy cigarettes. In fact you can even be aged 14 and smoking if a parent has given you the cigarette and you have not bought it. So literally the law basically says you can't buy cigarettes until you're 18 but if you happen to come by one or someone gives you one for free then feel free to smoke. I find it hard to understand how any of that makes sense. The law is supposed to retain order and also improve the lives of citizens. Not putting a firm foot down on the issues around smoking and allowing societies problems to continue without effectively doing everything possible to reduce and prevent them is simply unacceptable. The reality should be that it's illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to smoke or even carry a cigarette on them. Heck I'd raise the age of smoking higher to 21 but if we're discussing just the logic around the law, then that's what it should be. The results would mean more people refraining from smoking leading to fewer cases of illnesses derived from the act and a positive impact economically on individuals and society. The consequences are clearly more favourable when laws are set to make sense and it begs the question as to why the law remains the way it is. There is so much to gain and from proper enforced legislation and it would be a step closer to creating a more improved and healthier society. It needs to be looked at and reviewed by our elected delegates immediately. Contact your local MP, tweet them. It’s not much use just reading this article and only just agreeing with it, use your voice and make those accountable hear your concerns and together we make small differences like this to create a better and healthier society.

Chief