Quebec is following suit in passing anti-smoking laws in public places. This is a relatively new phenomenon that is sweeping the globe. At the SFAA conference, a lot of the smokers I spoke with were from all over America and Europe, and they all told me of these cessation laws that were affecting them either recently or currently.
I was contacted by Marion Scott of the Montreal Gazette last week for an interview she was doing for the Big Butt-Out series in the paper. She was focusing on the social aspects of smokers. The article ran in today’s Gazette and can be found here .
The paper I wrote about the subculture of smokers can be found here.
You know, I was just in Montreal for the CASCA conference (Can. Anthro Society) and was struck by how freely everyone smoked. In Ontario and Nova Scotia, the two provinces I live in, smoking has already been curbed in public spaces for 5 or so years, so going into Montreal bars was like stepping into a time machine. I must say, the situation sucks for people like me who have asthma or otherwise are into the health thing, and I was glad to hear Montreal was going to be smoke-free soon.
Anecdotally, my brother’s girlfriend, a nurse, says that smokers generally recover faster than non-smokers. This is because they haul their asses out of bed and through the hospital for their daily fix. The exercise lets their bodies heal faster. Ironic, huh?
That is amazing to hear that smokers recover quicker because that have to get up and get their fix. I would think that smoking during recovery would conteract any exercise you were getting by going outside!
Thank you very much for sharing your experience between smokers in Montreal vs. Ontario and Nova Scotia.
Well, this was only anecdotal evidence. If it was a rigorous study you’d probably find distinctions between heavy and light smokers, different types of illnesses, etc. My brother’s girlfriend may have said intensive care people too, I can’t remember exactly. In other words, the people who would benefit the most even from a little bit of exercise.