Stub it out: Move smoking far away from our hospitals

There’s a conversation, led by the Scottish Government, about smoking near hospitals. I’ll add to it now by saying: stop. Ban it, or at least move it far, far away. It’s offensive and disgusting. The most vulnerable people in society deserve better. As reported in The Courier last week, Tayside and Fife’s hospitals have already adopted a smokefree policy for all hospital grounds. The problem is smoking’s not against the law, so it’s difficult to make anybody stub it out. As a woman once said: “What are you gonna do? Charge me with smoking?”

Rules work best when they’re enforceable. Even recordings of children pleading with smokers to stop lighting up near Ninewells Hospital in Dundee haven’t stopped some people from puffing away. That’s more than a little bit appalling.

The Scottish Government is looking into the problem of smoking outside hospitals across the country, and is consulting on establishing 15-metre smoke-free zones. The idea generated a headline or two last week because the Royal College of Physicians expressed support, and suggested extending it to vaping products. I want to add my voice, small though it may be, in agreement.

Full disclosure: I’m an ex-smoker, which is the worst kind of non-smoker. I don’t just disagree with smoking; I disagree with other people smoking because the smoke makes me retch. Some of this is self-disgust because I regret so many coffin nails, but I feel like I feel. Like pretty much everyone in Scotland, I’ve watched the health effects on loved ones.

Now the very sight of smoke near hospitals makes me angry. I’m trying not to judge the smokers, because addiction is a nightmare I fully understand, and I also understand the point of view that people who are really ill shouldn’t be denied their few remaining pleasures. But those aren’t reasons to force everybody else to breathe second-hand smoke when they’re seeking medical care.

The government is already expressing hopes of legally-enforceable no-smoking perimeters by the end of the end of this year.

Good. And if anybody reading this can make a good decision in the meantime, and move away from the doors, even better.

“I’m trying not to judge the smokers, because addiction is a nightmare