A counterblast on possible e-cigs ban

Llangollen resident Martin Crumpton has sent the following message to Assembly Members in the wake of the announcement that Wales may be the first area of Britain to ban the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places:

Day rooms in hospital used to be where patients who smoked would congregate. They were closed because, for among other reason, they needed regular redecoration because they became heavily stained and smelly. As a consequence, they were closed and patients had to go outside to smoke, regardless of the weather. Anyone who’s had to cease immediately and for prolonged periods (Cold Turkey) knows how hard this is, and smoke cessation programmes don’t recommend this. It’s even harder on those with poor or little mobility. Prisoners and train drivers are exempted from the tobacco ban, for obvious reasons.

 

Please be assured the e-cigarette is by far the easiest, most effective way of delivering nicotine. Patches, gum and sprays are nowhere near it in helping smokers avoid the gasses produced by tobacco.

 

I’d ask you to evaluate e-cigarettes’ capacity for staining and leaving bad smells in enclosed spaces such as day rooms. Most of all, consider the needs of patients addicted to nicotine.

 

Whichever way the proposed Bill goes, please don’t lose sight of the human side of its consequences. You can nudge, encourage, educate as much as you like, but remember this: You’re not in loco parentis. Without responsibility for our own actions, our communities will regress.

 

Martin Crumpton