SMOKING: THE LEAST OF MY WORRIES !

By Mario Cacciottolo - BBC News.

Judy Mead thinks patients may be angered by the smoking ban.
Thousands of people are being prevented from smoking as the public places ban is extended to the buildings and grounds of mental health facilities in England.
They were given an extra year to bring it into effect, but one former patient and advocate, Judy Mead, thinks the ban could make people's problems worse.
"If staff prevent people from smoking this may cause a greater risk of violence or anger from mental health service users."
Judy Mead is in no doubt as to the potential problems that could be caused when staff dealing with mental health patients tell them smoking is not allowed on the hospital or unit's premises.
The 42-year-old, from Bristol, was sectioned herself twice - in 1985 as a 19-year-old and then again two years later.
On both occasions she was both a day patient and also an in-patient for several months.
She was smoking about 15 cigarettes a day and says she would have been badly affected by a ban placed on the mental health unit she attended.
I was feeling suicidal. The last thing I cared about, when my life was falling apart and I'd lost my home and my job, was what smoking could do to me some time in the future
More recently she has worked within the sector as an advocate, helping patients to communicate with the unit staff.
"I hadn't committed any crime when I was in a mental health unit and I was already angry at why I'd been sectioned, so being prevented from smoking would have made things worse.
"I would have been given more medication, because I already felt suicidal and having to give up smoking so suddenly would have made me more determined about taking my own life.
"For the first few weeks, my parents dissuaded my friends from visiting, and as I didn't know any of the patients, the only friend I had was a cigarette."
Keeping control
Part of the reason why smoking was important to her, was apart from fulfilling a nicotine craving, the very act of lighting up symbolised one of the last remaining areas in which she could still exert control.
"Smoking was the only thing that remained the same in my life - which now consisted of detention in a mental health unit, being filled with lots of medication and given electric-shock treatment.
"Smoking was the one thing that I still had control over - we didn't even have control over when we could have a cup of tea and for a long time I didn't even have my own clothes. You feel like everything has been taken away.
"The least of my worries were the health risks associated with smoking.
"I was feeling suicidal so the last thing I cared about, when my life was falling apart and I'd lost my home and my job, was what smoking could do to me some time in the future."
What this ban will do is put people off from voluntarily seeking help
Later, when Ms Mead worked in the mental health sector herself, she saw how people being treated relied on smoking.
"If you're a smoker then it really breaks the ice with other people. In a place like a mental health unit it becomes a social mechanism.
"I'm concerned that people forced to give up will get angry, and the only way the staff will be able to deal with them will be to prescribe increased doses of medication. What else can they do?"
Fire hazard
Ms Mead believes the ban will see people attempt to conceal their attempts to smoke, which could lead to an increased danger of accidental fires.
"People will just smoke in secret and accidentally set fire to things. Or they'll try to escape into the grounds to smoke there.
"As a minimum, there should be a shelter provided, with heating, for people to smoke in unsupervised and a smoking area provided indoors.
"This ban will put people off voluntarily seeking help.
"If I'd had a choice between a psychiatric unit and prison, I'd have chosen prison, because at least you can smoke there."

BBC NEWS REPORT.