Where there is smoke ... there is usually a cigarette

Nurses Relations Toon

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It's been years since smoking has been allowed in public places.....including hospitals. But this doesn't deter some patients. They will go to all lengths to get their nicotine fix. Have you had encounters with smokers who try to bend and break the rules?

I have no idea why marijuana is illegal when tobacco is. When you compare the risks Marijuana is very safe. I took a health sciences class in high school and we actually got to go to several clinical rotations and I saw several patients come back from the smoking...well the best word to describe it would be booth, outside the hospital and were promptly searched for lit cigarettes. More often than not they'd have something confiscated.

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When I was in nursing school, I worked as an assistant in the nursing float pool at a large medical center. We had a patient care tower that was multiple (>10 stories) high. I was working as a PCA on one of the top-level (highest up) patient care floors one night, the fire alarm goes off, with overhead verbal alarm "Code Red, 11 East, room 11XX"... Naturally it was the unit we were on, so we all start closing doors, etc, hospital security/police forces us to back away from the room in question, they insist on handling it...and the patient got beligerent over the cigarette they were trying to smoke and were caught (by the automated smoke detectors and then hospital staff), that hospital security forgot to cancel the fire department call. Best was the fire department. Because hosptial security/police didn't cancel the call, shortly after this all started, we hear a loud noise from the stairwell and the unit is stormed by about 10 firemen...who all groan when we tell them it was a cigarette smoking patient... The comment was made "11 stories? Again? Because of a smoker? This kind of stuff happens too frequently..."

It really is an addiction though...watching family members struggle to quit and then fall back into old habits is really sad. :(

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One of those spinal-cord patients I mentioned in my post above had his sweet little sister bring in brownies, and I was offered a sample. I had eaten 1 & 1/2 of these really delicious brownies when they told me she had made pot​ brownies. Well, that was about 9:30 PM. I had to give report at 11PM and I honestly don't know HOW I did it. Needless to say I had to take a cab home that night. (again, this was in the early '70's).

Stoner.

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I have no idea why marijuana is illegal when tobacco is. When you compare the risks Marijuana is very safe. I took a health sciences class in high school and we actually got to go to several clinical rotations and I saw several patients come back from the smoking...well the best word to describe it would be booth, outside the hospital and were promptly searched for lit cigarettes. More often than not they'd have something confiscated.

It's legal where I live.

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Specializes in hospice.
It's legal where I live.

It's still federally illegal and the next administration may not be so "hip."

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
It's still federally illegal and the next administration may not be so "hip."

Actually, a-legal is more accurate. Eric Holder said quite awhile ago that the Feds were not going to prosecute residents of Colorado and Washington for their recreational use, thus giving tacit approval of state legality. It will just be a matter of time before most other states follow suit.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

And a LOOOOOONG time before my state in the Bible Belt will be dragged, kicking and screaming, into joining in with the rest.

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Specializes in hospice.
Actually, a-legal is more accurate. Eric Holder said quite awhile ago that the Feds were not going to prosecute residents of Colorado and Washington for their recreational use, thus giving tacit approval of state legality. It will just be a matter of time before most other states follow suit.

Eric Holder has no control over what the next Attorney General or the next President will do. Your post did not disprove my statement.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Nevertheless, I predict there will be continued decriminalization of marijuana, regardless of who holds office next. The feds have just been watching to see how Colorado and Washington implemented it and what the ramifications were, and they are seeing how flush with money our coffers are.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Wondering.....when pot is decriminalized, will the folks jailed for being caught with pot and paraphernalia or just caught while smoking it (ie, not a dealer) be released from jail? S'gonna be an awful mess in the courts trying to get all that 'weeded' out. :yeah:

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We had one patient who had someone bring cigarettes in for them, and one evening used a paper clip that he heated up from the electrical outlet to heat it up to the point that he could light the cigarette. Luckily he did not electrocute himself or start a fire. Needless to say he was kicked out of the rehab facility within 24 after that happened :eek:

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Yeeeooowwwccchhhh! Now that guy was 'desperate' for a smoke! He not only could have gotten a jolt of a bolt, but might've also short-circuited more than himself!

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