18. Smokers

Hi, I’m Greg and I want to grumble about smokers. Not smoking, smokers. Yes, I know smokers are just people addicted to a noxious substance and we should really feel sorry for them. Their addiction means that they pay daily tribute to some of the biggest and nastiest corporations around the world – an immoral profit based on dependence and a history of insidious advertising and a denial of science.

I should be compassionate because I know that statistically smokers are likely to suffer more from cancer and other diseases and die earlier than non-smokers, and I know that people on low incomes, and people who are desperate or stressed and those who suffer depression and other mental health problems are all more likely to smoke than those with more resources or for whom life is easier. Should I really begrudge people a short term relief from a simple smoke?

I should be more understanding, but sometimes I simply resent having to hold my breath as I go in and out of buildings, or having to have a conversation with someone whose clothes and breath fill the air with the putrid aftermath of their craving. I resent the colonisation of our-door spaces at various venues, and I particularly resent people coming up talk to you when they are smoking, or light up next to you completely oblivious to how obnoxious and anti-social that is.

I won’t even dignify the notion of smokers’ rights with a grumble because at the point where smokers are imposing their smoke (and their medical bills) on the rest of us, it is not about their right or choice whether to smoke, it is a public health issue. And of course where a corporate sponsored addiction is concerned, it is never really about free choice anyway.

So, I actually want to congratulate governments over the last 20 years for a range of public health responses which have de-legitimised and de-glamourised smoking, and which see us no longer having to share aircrafts, music venues and restaurants with the offensive smoke. Even while I grumble about smokers, it is worth remembering these good changes – our lives made better by preventative health approaches.

We could learn a lesson from that for all sorts of addictions and health problems where prevention (or at least risk minimisation) may be better than cure. Alternatively, we can call this a “nanny state” and just continue to plough money into a completely unsustainable health system that remains dominated by expensive tertiary-end care. However, unlike my dashes into buildings, I won’t hold my breath for a policy change there.

I am Greg, and I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast at https://radio.adelaide.edu.au/gregs-grumbles-18/ 

First Broadcast: 3 December 2013