I'm ambivalent about this issue. As a smoker I feel very angry and frustrated when I can't smoke a cigarette. I have no problem not smoking inside but I do have a problem with not being able to smoke outside or with not having a place provided for me when I am unable to go outside. The lack of smoking rooms in airports is my current gripe. That being said, I'm not sure that I have a 'right' to smoke anymore than a person has a 'right' to drink or a 'right' to take heroin or cocaine or...

Personally, I think the best case that can be put forward (the case that is most likely to succeed) is that case that nicotine is a neurotransmitter and altered levels of nicotine in the brain is going to have an impact on behavior. Since the majority of people in an inpatient psychiatric ward are there for the purposes of medication stabilization it would help the stabilization process immensely if people were having their usual levels of nicotine.

- One problem is that people often smoke more in an inpatient setting than they do in an outpatient setting. Especially when smoking is considered a legitimate reason for a walk around the yard.

- If they do plan to not allow smoking then I do think they should provide nicotine replacement therapy (for the reason stated above).

The hospital I spent most of my time in went non-smoking. That being said, they made an exception for the psychiatric ward (providing a smoking room and then fencing an outside area such that people could securely smoke outside) precisely because of the medication stabilization issue.

The hospital here is on a non-smoking university campus. There is one officially recognized smoking area on campus (and it is a big big campus that could take you up to 30 minutes to get there) and a few 'unofficial but we will turn a blind eye' areas. There are none in the vicinity of the hospitals (including the psychiatric ward) however. My p-doc rolled her eyes when I asked her how that was working out for medication stabilization. I'd say that would be the way to attempt to get clinicians and clients all arguing for the same thing...