Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Smoking Room at BCPWA
Did you know that the smoking room at British Columbia Persons With AIDS Society lounge may close on March 31, 2008? A new regulation in the BC Provincial Tobacco Sales Act may force BCPWA to close the smoking room. At the Society’s Annual General Meeting a few years ago, the majority of the membership voted in favour of keeping the smoking room, so the Board of Directors has written a letter to the Ministry asking for an exemption to this new regulation. We will have to see how the government responds. There are statistics that show that 60-80% of persons living with HIV smoke, which is significantly higher than the general population at 20-30%. There are pros and cons to closing the smoking room. What do you think about this? Do you think the smoking room should close? What do you think the smoking room should be used for?
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5 comments:
This will be a big challenge for some of those who have enjoyed the benefits of being members of BCPWA and as such having the facilities and services that we do. If part of your routine has been to come to PWA to have coffee and cigarettes, meet with friends and other members as well as utilize the facilities and enjoy the services, then closing the smoking room could be a huge blow. While everything else remains the same, rather than sitting with others enjoying java and smokes, people will just have the java. People can still access and utilize facilities and services as always.
So I am wondering how those people who feel they are being denied their right to smoke will accept what is going to become the law. I am sure that every effort has been made on the part of the Board and the Executive Director to find some way of accommodating those members who smoke cigarettes. One could argue that they should be more engaged in providing space for members who are legally licensed to use medical marijuana.
As Steven Harper and his cronies all too often say, "The fact of the matter is..." smoking has developed a bad rap for good reason and public opinion is firmly against the tobacco industry and it's products. Those people who smoke and are upset by the coming changes are dealing with a sense of rejection, (you can't smoke here), feeling judged (you're a bad person because you smoke) and a struggle with addiction.
What services and supports at BCPWA will those members who want to stop smoking be able to tap into? How many of the people who regularly come to BCPWA and who are smokers will stop coming in protest, cutting off their noses to spite their faces? We'll see soon enough and I hope that people will choose to support their health and BCPWA.
Yes the room should close! Lets do something healthy with the room like a private massage room or a place where current HIV information is kept. Or treatment information folks could be there to give advice.
I think: it's about time! The smoking room stinks. I don't even like using the Lounge anymore because of the stink of smoke coming out of the room and the smell on peoples clothes. If we are really so into health promotion and harm reduction, we would have shut that room down years ago.
whatever your opinion on smoking, it seems to me that the Lounge and the smoke room are the most socially inviting spots in the building. to those using the "it's bad for you" argument; so is sugar and caffeine, but in a free society we generally allow adults to make their own choices. As a volunteer who works in the lounge, its seems to me that there are many members who use the lounge and smoke room as their primary place to socialize and remain connected.
"Global warning is not caused by cigarettes!" - Pete J.
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