NEWS

New law helps make new life
-smoking ban helps make smokers quitroad-racers
BY EMILY HSIAO SHAN & RON YIP MAN-CHI

Hong Kong has become a relatively smoke-free city since the start of the year, when the government slapped a smoking ban on most indoor and many outdoor venues.

Legislator Leung Kwok-hung, also known as Long Hair, however criticized the government for "abusing its authority and inhibiting smokers" freedom.   

The banning of cigarette smoking aims to improve air quality as well as citizens' health. It is applicable to universities, bars and restaurants, offices as well as beaches and large parts of public parks.

"It's unhealthy to smoke but most human behaviors, such as having barbeques, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and cosmetics are also unhealthy," Long Hair, himself a die-hard smoker, commented.

He also emphasized that it was illogical to ban smoking in outdoor areas like beaches and university campuses.

"If one says the reason is there are too many students on campus, I dare say there are even more kids and babies in the streets of Central where smoking is allowed," he said.

Instead of banning smoking in public areas, the government should enhance anti-smoking education, and even categorize cigarettes as a kind of drugs to help prevent more from becoming tobacco addicts, he suggested.

When asked if he would quit smoking, the legislator said, "I tried to quit when I was young, but I smoked again very soon. I will not quit anymore unless my doctor tells me to."

The legislator however appeared to be in the minority, as some nicotine fans used the ban as a good reason to give up smoking.

Mr Ng, a 41-year-old motorbike mechanic who smoked three packs of cigarettes a day wanted to quit after the law has come into force.

"I have been smoking for more than 25 years, my wife hates my habit but I don't have the willpower to quit," Mr Ng confessed. "[The law] is quite bothersome, but that may help me quit or at least smoke less. My wife is very happy to see me change and we can save more money too," Mr Ng said.

Rainbow Chan, a 35-year old restaurant staff who worked on the Baptist University campus, had smoked for eight years.

"I smoked to kill time because my job bored me," Ms Chan said, but the new law had pushed her to quit, "Because it's really troublesome to find a place to smoke and most of my colleagues would not go outside to have a puff with me."

"I am now a non-smoker and I feel good," she said.

Some smokers, like Ms Chan, could stop smoking without seeking professional help, but other smokers might require medical aid.

The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong has launched a programme to help smokers quit by giving them suggestions on the use of quit smoking products.

There are various kinds of such products including inhalers and chewing gums, and the use of them depended on the user's level of addiction.  

However, some might want to forget about nicotine altogether.

Yip Ka-kit, a cafeteria trainee who started to smoke when he was eight, said he didn't want to get help from western medication to quit smoking because of the nicotine contained in it.

"I want to get away from nicotine and I am not going to take it in any form, so I won't use the western medication," Mr Yip said.

He sought help from acupuncture instead.

Dennis Au Cheuk-wing, a registered Chinese medicine practitioner, said, "it [using acupuncture to quit smoking] is an easy operation with little side effects and it is becoming more popular."

To quit the urge to smoke, a traditional Chinese doctor would apply needles on the patient's ears and hands.  

After locating the specific points, the medic would prick the needles into the skin by 0.3 to 0.5 inch until the patient feels numb.

Mr Au said the therapy would take around 30 minutes and cost about $300 each session, adding that the number of sessions required may vary as patients would respond differently to the therapy.

Although there are various methods to help smokers quit, Dr Judith Mackay, Director of Asian Consultancy on Tobacco Control, said 80% of the smokers could quit without medical help.

"The most important is to stop their mental want of cigarette," Dr Mackay said.

She added that the nicotine contained in quit-smoking drugs could have side effects on the cardiovascular system, even though the dosage was much less than a cigarette.

According to a research conducted by the University of Hong Kong's medical school, more than 7,000 people die here every year of smoking-related diseases, with about 1/4 of the cases related to secondhand smoke.