Club Liaison
Report from Club Liaison Officer, Phil Johnson: “As the smoking ban puts more and more clubs in a perilous position we are starting to cause a stir within that sphere. In a monthly article for the Club Journal we are showing the masses that this ban was implemented on the back of lies, fabrications, manipulated statistics and spurious ‘consultations’.
“I am now in the process of setting up a meeting with the Scunthorpe Clubs, and all within the Doncaster Branch Area are invited to attend. I have received desperate news from that area, hence Freedom2Choose will eagerly await this meeting (pencilled in for April 2009).
“Freedom2Choose was represented in London last week at an important meeting chaired by Gerry Sutcliffe MP (Bradford South). Mr Dave Atherton, our Southern Area Club Liaison Officer, laid the blame for the demise of our clubs firmly at the smoke ban’s door, stating, ‘one or two clubs per year close for economic reasons. The smoking ban has caused 87 to close within the 18-month period since its implementation. The elderly, the infirm and the lonely have lost their only social outlet simply because smoking is not allowed indoors. The simple solution of separate rooms with ventilation would see a rapid return to happy, busy and thriving clubs.
“It has been calculated that clubs are losing £13m per year in beer sales. This has to stop.
“For all those that enjoy internet facilities all Club Journal articles can be found under the ‘Press’ banner of our website, www.freedom2choose.info. They make interesting reading.
Freedom2Choose has also been instrumental in assisting with the High Court action by three Rampton patients, denied their human right to smoke within their ‘home’. It matters not why these less fortunate people are retained at Rampton, the crux of the matter is that Rampton is their home, hence they should be able to smoke.
“Freedom2Choose is now *on the air*! We have been invited to regular monthly ‘talks’ by manchesterradioonline.com where the host is trying to get the message out that ‘Smoking Bans Kill Businesses’. The show goes out ‘prime-time’ between 9 pm and 12 pm on Saturday nights. Log on to http://www.manchesterradioonline.com and listen in.”
Mental Health Consultation in Scotland
The Rampton result may well have repercussions on the current Scottish government consultation on mental health. Candidly entitled “Achieving smoke-free mental health services in Scotland”, this consultation explains why the government feels the need to review the exemptions in mental health settings. Former Health Minister Andy Kerr said in committee in 2005: Psychiatric hospitals and units are included on the list because clinicians and others told us that that would be appropriate, if individuals' overall mental health and well-being were to be looked after. There were obvious humanitarian and other reasons for that exemption. This reasoning appears to have gone very quickly out of date.
The document claims that there are 745 SHS-related deaths associated with home exposure in Scotland annually, and of course the old chestnut that heart attacks dropped 17 per cent in the year following the Scottish smoking ban. It further claims that smoking may play a part in the development of some illnesses. In this consultation document, with target groups including mental health service users, no references for these claims are provided. The consultation is open until Monday 6 April 2009.
For more insight into how this policy works in practice, see blogs
http://tinyurl.com/buhafv (Banning smoking on the acute wards), http://tinyurl.com/d4va4k (Patients lose the right to smoke in hospital) and http://tinyurl.com/d7fgs3 (tobacco handed out by staff in locked ward, Australia).
Ulster and Scotland say yes: New Zealand says no!
Although New Zealand’s premier declared there was insufficient evidence to justify a display ban, within a week both Stormont and Holyrood announced their intentions to introduce bans. In an interesting twist of history Stormont intends to follow Dublin, which is to introduce a ban this year, rather than Westminster, where small shops won’t have to cover up their displays until 2013. Holyrood is convinced that “out of sight is out of mind”, in spite of the objections of trade bodies, and legislation will be introduced this year.
New Zealand hosts a particularly vociferous branch of ASH, which has declared a ten-year deadline to the complete eradication of tobacco products, starting with display bans. The New Zealand government has reconfirmed its refusal to ban tobacco displays in spite of pressure from the New Zealand Medical Association.
The BMA and Royal College of Physicians would also like to see tobacco use eradicated by 2035 and 2030 respectively, and recommend progressive regulation in order to achieve this. A display ban represents massive regulation, overturning the right of customers to view and compare products that they wish to buy, and significantly inconveniencing both shopkeepers and customers. Freedom2Choose opposes these measures on these grounds. A display ban, and any further regulation, will also indubitably fuel illicit trade in tobacco.
The Scottish Health Committee is taking evidence on this Bill until Wednesday 8 April.
THINKING IS FORBIDDEN CONFERENCE, BRUSSELS 28-29 January.
Read account and view speakers at www.antiprohibition.org, and look for the Brussels Declaration in the coming weeks!
