Readers' Blog: We have to do more to challenge smoking
I would like to tell Minister for Health, Simon Harris, that I believe the time has come to radically address the smoking epidemic in this country.
The deaths and carnage to people’s health are undeniable.
I think of the smokers who are now terminally ill lying on a hospital bed saying goodbye to their family. I have 2 girls under 2 years of age and the thought of knowing they would not have their father around because he smoked himself to death. That must really be the most tragic experience possible.
To know you did it to yourself.
As a previous smoker myself I would like to propose a few strategies to help people;
A. Get out of this horrendous addiction B. Help people avoid getting trapped in the first place.
Everyone should have free choice, if you want to hit yourself over the head with a hammer then legally the state cannot practically prevent this.
With smoking, I do not propose making cigarettes illegal.
I propose educating smokers not on the harmful effects but on the possible avenues out.
Smokers don’t know what to do to quit and there are a number of ways proven to help, nutrition, exercise, peer to peer support groups, Nicotine Replacement Therapy, Quit.ie, Hypnotherapy, Acupuncture, CBD, Meditation etc.
To engage smokers in a community could have outstanding momentum.
There are support groups for a number of addictions/ conditions but none for the biggest killer of all, smoking.
I believe an effective way to reach smokers is the introduction of a nicotine license.
This license comes with a fee and mandatory participation in a course designed by leading addiction specialists.
This course is an education session outlining all the ways you can get free, it is supportive and caring with an emphasis on community.
You link up with like-minded smokers who want to stop and through social media, in-person meetings continue to support each other and form bonds.
These clinics could be held at night in social welfare offices around the country. No one wants to rot themselves to death from smoking.
They just keep their head in the sand and promise themselves they will get out before it’s too late. It’s amazing how the years tick by as a smoker.
Following on from the nicotine license, reducing availability can also be achieved through the requirement that shops/petrol stations are only allowed to sell tobacco from 9-11 at night.
With regards to my 2nd point I believe children should be addressed in schools.
Have ex-smokers or people dying from smoking go in and talk to the kids in the classrooms.
These are the people best experienced to talk of the horrors of the smoking addiction.
Liaise with the department of education on this nationwide.
This is a win-win for the whole country and everyone involved.
I hope Mr Harris puts this into action.
I would greatly welcome his exploration of this proposal.
The world will move in this direction at some point, so why not let Ireland be the first?
