Firms told to help smokers kick habit | Uk News | News | Telegraph

Smokers should be allowed to attend clinics in working hours to help them kick the habit, according to public health guidelines issued yesterday.

Firms told to help smokers kick habit | Uk News | News | Telegraph.

Okay, so I don’t smoke and I never have, so what do I know about kicking the weed?

Well, I do have some personal experience of addiction and I am painfully aware just how difficult it can be to quit. But, and here’s the rub, the addict has to want to quit. NICE seems to be assuming that all those hooked on gaspers fall into that category. While many smokers talk the talk, most of them in my experience are happy enough to puff away given the opportunity. Mrs Longrider has no intention of quitting, so her employer would be wasting time, effort and money trying to get her to do so. Indeed, the more the government and the health fascists try to make her into a pariah, the more determined she is to fight back and puff away regardless.

Then there’s this:

“For example, a business with 20 employees, of which typically five would smoke, could spend just £66 on providing brief advice (including employees’ time) and see an overall saving of around £350 based on improved productivity,” a spokeswoman for Nice said.

That’s a pretty huge assumption. Many of my current colleagues smoke (a surprisingly high proportion considering the current environment), but there is no loss of productivity that I am aware of. Unless, of course, the spokeswoman from NICE is referring to the fag break. But that break is taken by all workers. Some drink coffee, some huddle outside the front door with a gasper and others simply chew the fat in the tea room. Where is the evidence, therefore that the smokers are any more costly in productivity?

Currently, smoking costs the NHS an estimated £1.5 billion each year, and costs industry an estimated £5 billion in lost productivity, absenteeism and fire damage.

The salient word here being estimated. In plain language that’s guesswork to you and I. Mrs Longrider, like most other workers, has taken time off from work due to sickness. None of this has been in relation to the roll-ups she puffs away at. I have taken time off due to my migraines. In all probability, I have lost more productivity from cluster headaches that can affect my performance for days at a time than she has. Perhaps NICE would like me to quit my migraines? If only…

Of course, if employers wish to invest in voluntary schemes for their employees, all well and good. However, I see no justification for forcing them to do so. That would be a step too far. But, then, for the health fascists, there is no such thing as a step too far, is there?