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Smoking has become a "hot button" in our adult, faith-based, social model recovery community. In fact, for the first time in our 60-year history we are considering declaring ourselves to be a "smoke free" recovery community.
Though health considerations are part of our deliberative process, we are equally concerned about conversations that seem to come from our designated smoking area. The conversations are often crude, gossip-like, and laced with "what I used to do when I was loaded."
Our program leaders, several of which are smokers, are very close to shutting down the smoking areas.
My concerns in changing over to a smoke-free community are that we may unwittingly drive the behavior underground, or that we will spawn a new contingent of "chewers and spitters."
Since we are located on a 143-acre site with a significant wild fire danger, secretive smoking in the hills that surround us could be extremely dangerous. And, as far as chewers and spitters are concerned, there is no way I want this disgusting use of tobacco in a community where work hard to make people employment-ready and able to function in the socio-economic mainstream with reasonable decorum.
As the tide of public opinion turns against smokers, and the cost of tobacco products contines to rise owing to new taxes and steep court settlements, I suspect the matter will soon resolve itself. Carl J. Fielstra, Chairman, Green Oak Ranch Ministries, Vista, CA.
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Absolutely dead on. As any recovering person can tell you, once the physical dependency from substances is gone, the real work begins. Part of this is the pattern of substance-dependent thinking so well described above. When individuals continue to smoke, this pattern is never interrupted. Imagine this scenario: you're out to dinner with a group of friends. One of your friends leaves the table 3 or 4 times during the course of the meal for 7-8 minutes at a time. They seem distracted or anxious at times; after the meal, they need to make a, "quick stop" at the drugstore or gas station, or wherever--and if others are critical of their smoking, they lie about what they need to pick up. And be honest, after a while isn't it just easier to hang out with other people that smoke???
12-step programs tell us to, "change everything". How is this thinking, "change?"
Here's the issue. Too many of us in the recovering community are unwilling to look at smoking honestly. I have heard many sponsors tell sponsees over the years to, deal with,"one thing at a time". And as an addictions professional, I hear the same thing from therapists all of the time. I challenge those individuals to keep a smoking journal --start while you're huddled outside with your clients smoking(btw, this isn't establishing empathy, it's "using"!!!)Let's take a hard look at how much of our time is spent planning, obtaining, maintaining our supply and using our legal drug of choice. Is this mental obsession true recovery?
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