Wow, I didn't anticipate such a debate when I clicked on this thread. I refuse to get into any "arguments" over the matters such as the nature of addiction, etc.

I can say from personal observation that most mentally-ill people I've ever been hospitalized with are smokers. I have always been a rare exception.

However, the last mental hospital I was in did NOT allow smoking. They would have allowed it, I was told, but since they were connected literally to a regular hospital with a "no smoking" policy, they also had to have it.

Patients were encouraged to use nicotine patches. Some of them availed themselves of this opportunity. I also know that Wellbutrin is sometimes given to help in the smoking cessation process, but I don't know if it was offered as well.

The smokers were NOT happy. In fact, someone was able to sneak cigarettes in and a lighter was stolen from the ward. Evidently an underground smoking group developed. One new patient told me she had been offered the chance for a few puffs. (She declined.) Of course, the smoke could be detected and the loss of the lighter was noted. The whole place was searched and all the patients were strip-searched. The lighter was found....

Of course, no one should smoke. I've had two dear friends who died of throat cancer, both only in their sixties. And, as the excellent articles provided here have pointed out, smoking is even worse on people with mental illness.

That said, here are people who are at crisis points in their disorders--having to have been hospitalized--and then they are also expected to give up smoking while there. Of course, it's an excellent time for them to do so, since they will be forced to quit. However, I fully believe that the hospitals MUST make bigger efforts to work with these people in their efforts to quit. What? Support groups maybe. Teaching alternatives to smoking that help to fulfill whatever needs smoking met. And so on. (Those of you who have quit would be able to suggest more concrete ideas than I can, since it's a non-issue for me.)

At any rate, that's my take on the deal. Yes, it's based on my own observations. But so be it.

An excellent thread topic! Thanks for it!