Forest's John Mallon is in Dublin this week asking the question, 'Are smokers second class citizens?'
Yesterday he was on Newstalk, Ireland's national independent talk radio station, in discussion with Professor Luke Clancy of the Tobacco Free Research Institute.
The item was introduced on the back of a study published this week that suggested public health policies targeted at smokers may stigmatise them and, in the process, make it harder for people to quit.
Interesting to hear Clancy admit that, "Stigmatisation might not be a good thing." Denormalisation, however, is OK, I assume.
To listen to the discussion in full click here. It ends with a text from a listener, aka 'Smokey Joe' who wrote, "It's about time someone started sticking up for smokers. Thank you, Newstalk."
I think he means Forest, unless he's thanking Newstalk for broadcasting the item.
Next week John will move on to some of Ireland's regional towns and cities. His pitch includes this heartfelt plea:
“I have loved, cared for and supported my children all my life. Now they're being encouraged to think of me as someone like a drunk driver - someone to be ostracised and despised - simply because I'm a smoker. My children are encouraged to see me as weak, addicted, costly and inconsiderate. I am none of those things and I resent the fact that my own government sees me as such.
"We have complied with every regulation, restriction and limitation, but we are no longer willing to accept that, as a group, we are bad people responsible for all the problems of society. It's time the government started treating us as citizens with rights, just like everyone else."
See Smokers: Ireland's second class citizens? (Forest Eireann)