STUB IT OUT
Wales to ban smoking outside hospitals and educational buildings
SMOKERS in Wales will soon be banned from lighting-up outside hospitals, schools and other educational institutions.
The Welsh Government is set to extend the indoor smoking ban introduced in 2007 to include certain outdoor areas from March 1, 2021.
After this date, anyone caught smoking in hospital grounds, children’s playgrounds and school grounds, as well as outdoor daycare and child-minding settings, could face a £100 fine.
It builds on the current restrictions which prohibit smoking in enclosed public spaces and work places, making Wales the first UK nation to extend its smoking ban to outdoor areas.
The measures will be further extended to include bedrooms in hotels and guest houses, as well as in self-contained holiday accommodation such as cottages, caravans and Airbnbs from March 1, 2022.
First announced in 2018, the aim of the new law is to further protect nonsmokers from second-hand smoke and “de-normalise” smoking for children and young people.
At the time of its announcement, Minister for Health and Social Services Vaughan Gething visited the maternity unit at Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire. Staff told Mr Gething they had received complaints from mothers about people smoking outside the hospital when they were entering and leaving with their babies.
Teresa Owen, executive director of public health at Betsi Cadwaladr University
Health Board, said around the same time: “A hospital is no place for smoking and the health board is determined to create a smoke-free environment.
“We receive numerous complaints about people smoking around the hospital, particularly near the main entrance.
“We need to find a way of ensuring our site is smoke-free while also supporting more patients, visitors and staff to quit.”
Speaking about the introduction of the new outdoor ban, Welsh Government Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language, Eluned Morgan, said: “A new year is the perfect time to quit smoking.
“Many smokers have already been motivated by Covid-19 to quit and we know quitting with support provides the best chance to stop smoking for good. Help Me Quit is ready to help at every step.”
Help Me Quit is Public Health Wales’ website with advice, information and support on how to quit smoking. You can also contact them on 0800 085 2219
Ms Morgan added: “Reducing the number of young people taking up smoking will save lives.
“We know the harms smoking can do to health and so we’re introducing these new requirements for the benefit of future generations.
“Banning smoking outside hospitals and places where children and young people spend their time, such as public playgrounds and school grounds, will denormalise smoking and reduce the chances of children and young people starting smoking in the first place.
“We are proud to be the first part of the UK to outlaw smoking in these areas and once again leading the way.”
A campaigning police boss is calling for jails to trial giving free cannabis to prisoners to help them overcome their drug problems and reduce prison violence.
North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, a former police inspector, says the radical idea could also prevent overdose deaths in prisons.
In 2018 prisoner Luke Morris Jones, 22, from Blaenau Ffestiniog, died at HMP Berwyn after taking Spice.
Speaking during an interview for the Guardian newspaper, Mr Jones (pictured) said if justice authorities were serious about reducing harms and violence in prisons, “they should be addressing the causes” such as the cheap synthetic cannabinoid spice that is rife and can be deadly, as opposed to cannabis.
Use of illegal drugs is widespread in prisons and many prisoners lawfully receive heroin substitutes such as methadone and buprenorphine to manage their dependence.
Others that are commonly prescribed include strong analgesics such as pregabalin and gabapentinoids – all of which are addictive and potentially dangerous drugs.
It was revealed by the Guardian last month that more than 300 prison officers and outside staff have been dismissed or convicted for bringing prohibited items – which can include drugs, tobacco and mobile phones – into jails in England and Wales over the past five years.
In the UK the use of cannabis recreationally is against the law but it has been legalised to be used for medical purposes.
But, says Mr Jones, access to full extract oil through the NHS is virtually impossible.
Mr Jones said: “Opioids are a damn sight more dangerous than cannabis.
“If they’re on opioids, why can’t they be prescribed cannabis?”
“Let’s supply cannabis in controlled conditions and see if offences reduce.
“The aim of the game is to make prisons safer. If they’re serious about reducing violence in prisons they should be addressing the causes and that’s psychoactive substances. Plus there’s a whole range of issues that cannabis would be geared to reduce the risk of.”
Using recreational cannabis remains illegal in the UK but the plant has been legalised for medical use, though with significant restrictions.
The idea of trialling free cannabis in prisons was floated in 2018 by the pharmacologist Dr Stephanie Sharp.
She said that leaving prisoners to smoke spice was “condemning them to death” and that allowing then to smoke cannabis would be “much safer”.
More generally, Mr Jones has also called for cannabis to be regulated to cut out organised crime and allow people to grow a limited amount of it for their own personal use.
He believes that prohibition is counter-productive and it should be legally controlled just like alcohol and tobacco which caused more harm to individuals and society in general.
He added: “It is a nonsense to criminalise people who take cannabis for recreational use and cause no harm to anybody else.
“The best way to reduce the role of organised crime in the supply of drugs is to put it in commercial hands and to price it appropriately so people don’t need to go to the illegal market.
“Commercial organisations have taken over the medicinal cannabis market and are selling prescriptions at a vast cost even though it is cheap to grow. That’s just “exploitation in my book.
“My view is that people should be allowed to grow a limited number of cannabis plants for their own use.”