Posted on 12/10/2007 11:22:10 PM PST by LibWhacker
PEOPLE with mental illness are three times more likely to smoke, and experts say not enough is being done to help this vulnerable group quit.
A new Access Economics report shows almost 1.3 million Australians with a mental illness are smokers, costing $33 billion a year.
SANE Australia, which commissioned the report, is calling for urgent action to introduce quit smoking programs and supports for people with a mental illness.
Executive director Barbara Hocking said smokers with a mental illness paid about $2.8 billion every year in tobacco taxes, but there was little evidence of equitable funding and few programs to help the large numbers who wanted to quit.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Alternatively, if the anti-tobacco has its way, the government will make basket cases out of the smokers.
Maybe the condition is the result of an auto reaction to fend off cancer, which had not the cancer condition occurred, the mental disease would not have presented?
A little coming free, national, mental health electroshock never hurt anyone. Matter of fact, it kind of refreshes.
Next, fatties, big block and gun owners.
40% of journalists can’t write a coherent sentence.
It could be better stated that weak minds and constitutions run parallel with addiction susceptibility. Smoking, alcoholism, and drug abuse are all symptoms of an inability to just say 'NO'.
On a Freeper Cruise out of Miami back in 2002, I was suprised to see that at least 50% of us were smokers. Does this mean that Freepers who go on cruises have a higher chance of being a smoker than those who just stay behind their keyboards? :)
Why?
1. The smokers are ripped a new one by the taxes they're paying. Smokers quit? Government loses (que Carl Sagan voice:) "Billions and Billions" of ill-gotten and ill-spent tax revenues.
2. Heavy smokers even save the health care system tremendous dough. Why? Because they die off early, and fairly quickly, of lung cancer or heart disease. Ergo, less of that expensive long-term elderly care.
I had to check the source. Sure as shootin’, that’s how they had the headline.
They are also using current statistics to come up with their conclusions. Societal disdain, being told the medical reasons, price and inconvenience have made many, many people quit smoking. I would expect that a few of those things make no difference to the mentally ill.
I just looked and in 1965 47% of the US population smoked. So if that was average everywhere and now ONLY 40% of the mentally ill smoke, on average, 7% have been affected by price, fear and peer pressure.
That’s funny.
Might be possible that they would define "mental illness" as anyone that smokes.
It's BS but some people will believe anything.
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