Habit or addiction: the critical tension in deciding who should enforce hospital smoke-free policies

Abstract

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability and death. Most recently, the US Surgeon General has affirmed that there is no safe level of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The adverse affects of smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke on health pervade multiple areas of life. For these reasons, many countries have introduced smoke-free policies in a variety of community, workplace and service settings. Hospitals, in particular, are a focus of smoke-free policy because their primary goal is to promote health by attending to acute health crises or serious exacerbations of chronic conditions, many of which have direct or indirect links to smoking.