The Ban on Smoking in Public Places

[admin]

Campaigners have welcomed a vote paving the way for a ban on smoking in all pubs and private members' clubs in England.

MPs voted by a margin of 200 votes to impose the ban, which will come into effect in summer 2007.

As health care professionals do we welcome this ban?

Do members of the public agree with this?

If you have a view, either way, please contribute a post.

Please remember to vote (at the top of this post) on our poll.

[Apothecary]

Ban on Smoking

I think as a pharmacist promoting public health and well-being you have to agree with the ban.

I can see plenty of problems with implementing this, but from a public heath point it's an open and shut case. Forcing others to breath in toxins that you produce from your habit is unacceptable.

Smoking is bad :evil: stub it out !!!!

[admin]

Smoking

I used to work at BP. If you smoke in the wrong place at BP, needless to say the consequences can be horrific. BP provided areas where people were allowed to smoke. There was a very good reason for this, and that is simply if you "ban" smoking people will sneak them, even if the risk is instant dismissal.

I also used to work in a hospital in North Yorkshire. For a while they tried the same ban. This resulted in nurses (and obviously other staff including some Doctors) walking to the main road, often in the middle of a night shift (on their break) and standing alone down a road where a person was once murdered, so they could have a cigarette.

It was also very difficult to tell a geriatric psychiatric patient that they were not allowed to smoke any more, even though they had been doing so for sometimes sixty years or more!

My point is really that I don't see how the ban can work. I personally believe it is much better to have designated smoking areas to give people the choice. With the air conditioning technology we have today the air can still be kept fresh, even in smoking areas.

Just my opinion of course.

[Paddy]

Smoking in Pubs

I think maybe the amount of people going into pubs will go down, and a lot of people like a cigar/cigarette with their pint.

On the radio today a guy was complaining about smoking in pubs as he said it was bad for his kids health. In my days as a kid you sat outside with a packet of cheese and onion crisps and a bottle of pop!

Pubs should be for adults, not kids.

I think the best way is to have no smoking areas so the asthma people etc can go there.

Guns, knives, fags - they will be banning pointy ended sizzors soon!

[Linnear]

I believe that as pharmacists we should promote public health but what about public choice?

Everyone knows smoking is bad and they shouldn't do it but they do.

If the Government really wanted to do something about smoking they could outlaw it full stop. They banned beef on the bone remember?

Then what about alcohol, that's dangerous too. Ban it!

We have got to the stage where lessons aren't learned from mistakes, laws are made about them.

This nanny state is really getting me mad :evil: We are no longer given warnings we are given no go signs.

I believe that if people want to smoke in a pub they should be allowed to. I don't like smoke around when I'm eating but in a pub I expect it and allow for it.

[mt]

This forum never ceases to amaze me! This is an open forum - i.e. it is open to members of the general public, and not just pharmacists.

Moaning about the public, swearing in discussions, complaining about the stat committee... are just to name a few things discussed by supposedly registered pharmacists. Do these discussions in an open forum aid the professional image of a pharmacist? I think not! Below is an example -

admin wrote:
They are also probably the most rude bunch of people I have ever met!


...and this is from the admin of this site.

"Pharmacists must ensure that they behave with integrity and probity, adhere to accepted standards of personal and professional conduct and do not engage in any behaviour or activity likely to bring the profession into disrepute or undermine public confidence in the profession."

The above is a KEY responsibility of a pharmacist as defined in the Code of Ethics - if you are unfamiliar with this, check out your MEP guide. Sorry I had to remind you of this, but I personally think that tarring a whole pharmacy's customer base as "probably the most rude bunch of people I have ever met!" hardly instills "public confidence in the profession" - this is just one example on this forum.

I implore pharmacists who post on this forum to think before they write. I am sure that they would not say such things to somebody in their shop - please do not express these opinions in an open forum. It does not portray an exemplary image of a professional pharmacist.

[alex]

The ban can't come soon enough in my opinion. Its a filthy habbit.

The arguments against the ban whihc keep popping up are generally pap. The usual "non-smokers can choose not to go to the pub"; "we'll just smoke at home and kill the kids instead"; "alcohol leads to drink driving whihc is more fatal".

I've also seen a lot of comments about, where smokers are welcoming it as they say it'll help them quit as they usually only smoke when they drink anyway.

[admin]

Alex

I think most people agree with you, but I still think: -

I also used to work in a hospital in North Yorkshire. For a while they tried the same ban. This resulted in nurses (and obviously other staff including some Doctors) walking to the main road, often in the middle of a night shift (on their break) and standing alone down a road where a person was once murdered, so they could have a cigarette.

Hasn't a nurse been murdered today on a ciggie break?

[gaby]

I welcome the ban,

personally i dont like waiting for my train while nearly everyone around me is smoking, i move away from one person and another turns up smoking near me.

If they want to smoke, do it at your own home. I think it's fair. Why should other people's health be compromised due to people who chose to smoke.

[admin]

I welcome the ban,

personally i dont like waiting for my train while nearly everyone around me is smoking, i move away from one person and another turns up smoking near me.

If they want to smoke, do it at your own home. I think it's fair. Why should other people's health be compromised due to people who chose to smoke.

I agree with everything that's been said, but.....people will always sneak them if there is a complete ban. I worked in a hospital where all staff (including pharmacists, nurses and yes even Dr's) did just that. If you have designated smoking areas, at least you know where they are, and where to avoid.

[Jeff]

I agree with everything that's been said, but.....people will always sneak them if there is a complete ban. I worked in a hospital where all staff (including pharmacists, nurses and yes even Dr's) did just that. If you have designated smoking areas, at least you know where they are, and where to avoid.

Networking with others in the smokers ghetto is often surprisingly useful.

Jeff

[admin]

Jeff

It was THE place to meet and greet people, and find out what was really happening in the hospital. They banned the smoking after a couple of people complained. It used to have 15 to 20 people in there every lunch time. After they banned smoking, I never saw anybody in it. Even the two people who complained were not in there - just got themselves a "moral" victory I suppose.

They also had the problem of staff walking to the main road for a smoke in their break. That's ok if you work regular hours, such as pharmacy staff, but the nurses on duties throughout the night were putting themselves at risk. They then made a rule that nurses etc were not allowed to be seen in their uniform smoking. I think the idea was that it would take them too long to change, do the walk to the road, and get back in time.

So then people started sneaking cigarettes all over the hospital. They eventually re-opened the smoking room, and it went back to how it was at the beginning.

The hospital then gave people the option of free NRT for a period of time, if they wanted it. I think they also offered group sessions, things like that.

I once heard two Dr's having a massive arguement on one of the wards. They were really going for it - shouting really loud, and I thought it was going to end up in a punch up - it never did. The reason - one of the Dr's was smoking on his all night call outs, in a room they kept for them to get a bit of sleep when they could. The other obviously didn't like it. The smoker shouted "where the hell else can I have a f*****g cig, I leave the b*****d window open all night!!!"" Maybe that contributed to the re-opening of the smoking room, as the hospital manager came down and got involved, I honestly don't know.

Personally, I always think, if you completely ban something, people will always sneak it. I believe that applies to cigarettes as well as some "recreational" drugs. I believe the case for making some drugs decriminalised, such as cannabis and even ecstasy is quite a strong one.

Just my opinion