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WHO study suicide rates

Posted by Pamela13 on 30 Sep 2009 at 17:06 GMT

I think the WHO should study where these rates of suicide have increased and study the correlation between this depression and the smoking bans they've imposed. I recently read on JoinTogether that suicides drastically increased in Illinois. Illinois imposed a total smoking ban January 1, 2008. I think the WHO and other Tobacco Control orgs failed to look at the bigger picture. Many people have no family and are alone, but going to their favorite pubs and neighborhood taverns has given them new friends, new family and HOPE. With smoking bans closing many bars and pubs and smokers not patronizing those establishments anymore, the lonely lost that connection to the only "family" they know. You've vastly underestimated the role that these establishments provide to society. I challenge you to do a study to see what impact smoking bans in bars has had in states with total bans and their suicide rates. If you don't we can only assume that denormalizing behaviors is more important than the impact on people.

Competing interests declared: My husband and I own a bar in a state with a total smoking ban. We know first hand the impact the ban has had on not only our business but the people who called our place "home". I also am on the Board of Directors of the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association (uncompensated) and am co-founder of Opponents of Ohio Bans, an uncompensated position and our group sustains itself. Any press releases we issue are paid for by the members.
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