Enabling Death

I don’t smoke. Never have, never will -- intentionally that is. Yet, I did last night, and not by choice. I spent two hours at the Hanger 9 bar in Carbondale in conjunction with the ‘Hangin’ with the Candidates” gathering. I was fortunate to talk with old friends I haven’t seem for some time, as well as, meet any candidates that took the effort to talk to this grey-haired, old guy.

The small crowd was thinning about 9 PM and I felt compelled to also leave because the cigarette smoke was making me sick. Interestingly, throughout the event, others without any prompting by me, others commented to me about the dismal air quality. When I got home, I immediately took a shower because I reeked of smoke. The next morning I could still smell cigarettes on my hands, in my hair, and the objects I brought with me to the event. Stupid me. I should have known better.

I don’t think the event was attended by two candidates championing an anti-smoking ordinance for the city: Mary Pohlmann and Paulette "Will" Sherwood. Makes perfect sense to me to not attend a medically harmful event since the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that adult male smokers shorten their lives by an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lose 14.5 years of life because of smoking. Despite those grim statistics, 44.5 million US adults were smokers in 2004. That equates to 20.9% of all adults, 23.4% for men, and 18.5% for women.

It turns out that Monday's smoke-filled candidate event was held the same day as European Union announced plans for a total smoking ban across 27 countries.

The anti-smoking ban movement is quite active in Europe where “passive smoking still kills 79,000 people in the EU every year, and adults who are in daily contact with a smoker increase their mortality rate by 15 per cent, even if they have never smoked themselves.” In the US, secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 35,000 to 45,000 deaths each year from heart disease and 3,000 more deaths from lung cancer among nonsmokers.

As a technologist, I want to believe that there ought to be some effective technical answer to prevent damage from second-hand (passive) smoke. Yet, I am convinced that it just isn’t going to happen! Which brings us to Carbondale government’s enabling of death.

When talking about addition, psychologists refer to people who “enable” addicts. Enabling refers to behavior by someone other than the addict that contributes to the continuation of addiction. Enabling can be either intentional or unintentional. An example of enabling behavior a local government that publicly encourages smoking cessation while facilitating citizen and city employee smoking. Lots of well intentioned folk do it. Take Southern Illinois Regional Social Services (SIRSS), for example. It’s a Southern Illinois mental health agency that counsels smoking cessation, yet the agency finances a designated, sheltered smoking area for its clients and staff.

For Carbondale City government, enabling is licensing businesses that permit smoking on their premises because they are "afraid" of what will happen if they don't: business owners angered at losing business from addicts, irate smoking addicts who want unfettered rights to smoke in public spaces, and, of course, possibly lowered cigarette sales tax revenue. Enabling is permitting smoking in public places. Enabling is setting aside special smoking zones for those with addictions. Enabling is promoting events where smoking is expected to occur. Enabling is making excuses for addicts and other enablers of dangerous behavior to continue with the status quo.

I remember about 25 years ago when I, as an employee of the City of Carbondale, brought a small American Cancer Society display to the lobby of city hall. I was directed to remove it because it was deemed offensive to city employees that smoked freely throughout in the building. Now, 20 years after the definitive 1986 US Surgeon General’s Report showed that secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer, we still have government and health care agencies enabling death. Since the report was published over 12 million premature deaths are being attributed to smoking. (1)

Can a city ban smoking? Of course it can! Pueblo, Colorado implemented a smoke-free law in July 2003, heart attack rates fell by 27%, from a rate of 257 per 100,000 people per year to 187 per 100,000. In comparison, researchers found no decrease in heart attacks in nearby counties without smoke-free laws. (2)

What is the ultimate answer to the smoking problem in our community? Maybe citizens need to elect leaders who aren’t enablers?