The legal ban on smoking in public places does not apply to state prisons in England and Wales, the Court of Appeal has ruled. 
The case was brought by an inmate who wanted quicker implementation had brought the case. He and some other prisoners and staff argue state prisons should never have been exempted from the 2007 ban on smoking in public places.
Three judges allowed a government appeal against a High Court ruling that the ban covered all public places and all workplaces, the BBC reported this week.
The judges unanimously agreed that Crown premises, including jails, were not bound by the smoking ban legislation. Smoking is currently allowed only in prison cells and exercise yards, but the government had intended to make all 136 prisons in England and Wales smoke-free to reduce health risks.
The Prison Governors Association had previously warned that a ban could make jails more unstable, as 80% of inmates smoked.
But, with about 100,000 people in the UK dying each year due to smoking, the need to get people to stop is ever-increasing. Smoking-related deaths are mainly due to cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.
Breaking the addiction or unwanted behaviour can be achieved in just one session and stopping smoking can make a big difference to one’s health. It is never too late to stop smoking. If someone stopped in middle age, before having cancer or some other serious disease, most of the increased risk of death due to smoking can be avoided.
About half of all smokers die from smoking-related diseases. The life expectancy of a long-term smoker is, on average, about 10 years less than a non-smoker.
The NCH says people often start smoking within a peer group situation. Often this stems from the desire to blend in, to become part of a group. This, it adds, is because, in evolutionary terms, we need to be accepted by a group as our protection comes from being within groups. That is how we evolved and survived.
Research shows that by quitting smoking with hypnosis, someone is three times more likely to give up than if they tried nicotine patches or other methods.
Over the years many people have given up smoking, a large number through hypnotherapy. In 1972 just under half of adults in the UK were smokers. By 1990 this had fallen to just under a third. At present, about a sixth of UK adults are smokers.
Clinical hypnotherapy has an enviable record for helping people break the addiction to smoking. Why not look up an NCH therapist near you and plan to a live longer and healthier life?