Cruel smoking ban

SIR – My son has had bipolar disorder for 20 years. At present he is going through a crisis.

He is a heavy smoker and does not want to be hospitalised because he knows that he will be unable to smoke once he is on the ward. Surely in a mental health crisis it is ridiculous to expect someone to go “cold turkey”. Even electronic cigarettes are banned.

I am a retired nurse and I don’t condone smoking, but there are circumstances when it is cruel to deny a heavy smoker a cigarette when he has other problems to deal with at the same time. Elizabeth Webb

Trowbridge, Wiltshire