Ex-Smokers don’t refer to themselves as “Recovering” Smokers

I have never understood why there is such disparity in the services offered to addicts of one drug – nicotine, over the addicts of any other drug.  If you are a smoker, you will have proactive help offered to you whether it is through posters, TV adverts, nice glossy support packs from your GP or, the latest government initiative that will now help you further by giving you free nicoteine patches.

As a smoker, Government funded invitations call you daily to “come over to the healthy side……..”  Compare that to the Heroin or Crack Cocaine drug addict who lives in the secret world of addiction: no posters for him, no helpful adverts inviting him to “contact us – we’re here to help you”.  The addict battles their addiction on their own, focuses their days on either seeking the dealer, or avoiding the dealer because he is in debt to them or because an attempt at “going clean” is underway.

Let’s follow the journey of the smoker who has been seduced by the constant offers of help and support offered to him and so declares to his GP that he would like to be involved.  He will get congratulations, a nice shiny information pack and a prescription for Patches or gum to help with the stages of withdrawal.

If person has an addiction to a drug other than tobacco and they go to their GP declaring that they want help,  they will probably experience the following:  a letter of referral to the local Drug & Alcohol team, who may offer an appointment in a fortnight or so.  Then following an interview, where the patient is required to convince the team of the commitment to change, they may be offered a programme.

However before the programme of detox can begin, the patient will be required to attend daily and provide a urine test for three consecutive days.  Following this, dependant on the drug they are addicted to, they may be offered a subsitute such as Methodone while further treatment is discussed.  They may be offered the opportunity to attend groupwork with other addicts to discuss WHY they fell into the addiction and what hurt this addiction has caused them to inflct on themselves, their family and the wider community (I can understand why people would run towards Heroin rather than sit with the feelings this would invoke!) At all times – it is a system that the addict has to fight to access and only if he can convince people that he is genuine in his goal to rid himself of his addiction.

While the Non-Smoker, as he is now encouraged to consider himself, attends a supportive group of fellow Non Smokers – no questions will be asked about “why they started smoking” and they will not be encouraged to refer to themselves as “recovering smokers” or “in recovery”.  An ex-smoker is either an ex-smoker or a non-smoker and that affirmation is a good first step that the unfortunate drug user is deprived of: for he must prepare to consider himself “in recovery” for the rest of his life.  How ridiculous that support isn’t offered immediately to drug users who wish to make change –  maybe more addicts could be helped more effectively if they received the kind of support and encouragement that smokers receive on the road to good health.

Eileen Murphy

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