Smoking, Once Used to Reward, Faces a Ban in Mental Hospitals PAM BELLUCK New York Times February 6, 2013

Smoking at Psychiatric Hospitals Until recently, Louisiana law required psychiatric hospitals to accommodate smokers — unlike rules banning smoking at most other health facilities. The law was changed last year, and by March 30, smoking is supposed to end at Louisiana’s two remaining state psychiatric hospitals.

Cigarettes as Incentives or Rewards After decades in which smoking by people with mental illness was supported and even encouraged — a legacy that experts say is causing patients to die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses — Louisiana’s move reflects a growing effort by federal, state and other health officials to reverse course. Hospitals often used cigarettes as incentives or rewards for taking medicine, following rules or attending therapy. Some programs still do. And smoking was endorsed by advocates for people with mental illness and family members, who sometimes sued to preserve smoking rights, considering cigarettes one of the few pleasures patients were allowed.

Smoking Rates / Mental Illness New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the nearly 46 million adults with mental illness have a smoking rate 70% higher than those without mental illness, and consume about a third of the cigarettes in the country, though they make up one-fifth of the adult population.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention People with psychiatric disorders are often “smoking heavier, their puffs are longer and they’re smoking it down to the end of the cigarette,” said William Riley, chief of the Science of Research and Technology Branch at the National Cancer Institute. With some diagnoses, like schizophrenia, rates are especially high.National Cancer Institute

The Economics Costs? –Production + Taxes –Second Hand Smoke What about for those with Mental Illness? MB $ Cigarettes P+T P+T + SHS MB?