The Smokers’ Survey
I received a mail yesterday from Simon Clarke tipping me off about a survey.
Needless to say, I was ahead of the game and had already completed it.
It’s completely anonymous and fair [in my opinion] and the only problem I had was a question on “smoking related diseases” which I found confusing as everything these days seems to be a “smoking related disease”. That aside, I give you the blurb:
ANTI-SMOKING campaigners like to bombard politicians and the media with ‘facts’ about smokers.
The most common ‘statistic’ is that 70 per cent of smokers want to quit. More generally they like to give the impression that most smokers wish they’d never started.
Some smokers probably do fall into one or both of those camps and if you want to quit smoking or switch to a safer alternative such as electronic cigarettes, good luck to you. That’s entirely your choice.
But it’s not the full story. Despite the well-known health risks many smokers say they enjoy smoking and have no wish to stop. Sadly their voices are usually drowned out by politicians, the public health industry and even the media who all think they know better.
To find out what smokers really think about these and other issues the Centre for Substance Use Research (CSUR) in Glasgow has designed an in-depth survey.
It includes questions about your experience of smoking and how you feel about the habit.
It asks whether you feel stigmatised for smoking and what impact quitting would have on you.
The survey also asks about your experience (if any) of NHS stop smoking services and new tobacco or nicotine products such as e-cigarettes.
Most important it invites you to say whether or not you enjoy smoking.
You don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to. All the information you provide will be kept completely anonymous and stored securely.
Depending on the number of submissions we receive the plan is to publish a report that will be free to download and will be made available to a wide range of interested parties.
“The Smokers’ Survey,” says Neil McKeganey, director of the Centre for Substance Use Research, “is a way of getting the voices of smokers heard above the clamour for ever greater regulation.”
We can’t do that without your help so if you’re a smoker please complete and submit the survey as soon as possible.
So go on. It’s painless. It’s anonymous. They imply it’s UK based but Irish [and presumably anyone else?] are welcome to compete it.
THE SURVEY
Link doesn’t work, I’m afraid.
Strange. It works perfectly on mine. The same link is on paragraphs 5, 8 and 12. However two of those use a shortened link which I have now used for “THE SURVEY”. Try again?
Yep, now it works!
😉
The link worked fine for me, and I completed the survey. I think they might have made certain questions multi-answer. For example “When do you most enjoy a cigarette?” Eight or nine options, several of which are equally applicable but only one allowed (I answered “After a meal”, which ranks but minusculely higher than “With my first coffee of the day”)
Otherwise everything seemed straightforward, I didn’t notice any leading or biased questions.
Of course no online survey can cover all eventualities, but it’s a refreshing change from -Are you a smoker and are you a) inconsiderate, b) smelly or c) a paedophile!
I think anyone can fill it in, regardless of who or where they are, since one of the questions early on is “what nationality are you” followed by “country of residence” with a drop-down menu / list.
Smokers are the same world over, and smokers are treated more or less the same world over, so why not?
I have the same complaints about how smokers are treated here in the US that you have in Ireland. We are second class citizens the world over.
Well, I didn’t actually answer any of the questions, I just hit “next” to see what the questions asked, but at the end it said”Thanks, your answers have been submitted,and will be added to the database(or whatever) so maybe they will think I am already dead.
I presume you’ll be classed as a non-smoker?
I love throwing a spanner in the works of statisticians! How daft a question is this ” Do you see yourself smoking well into the future or do you envisage a time when you will have stopped smoking?” They might as well ask “Do you see yourself smoking in the After-Life?” Depends where one ends up after death….. 😀
I don’t smoke but having a coupla minutes to spare took the time and trouble to fill it in. Dishonestly of course.
Good for you, Bill! A shame the survey only mentions cigarettes and cigarette smoking; what about those who smoke pipes, or cigars? (Which I do by choice when I can ‘acquire’ them from Europe at about a third of UK prices. Or about a quarter of the price in the Republic, Grandad?)
I’ve been rolling pipe tobacco – St. Bruno and Condor – for years; cheaper than cigarette rolling tobacco and lasts much longer. Btw, I noticed on a recent packet of Bruno words to effect that the strands must now be a minimum of 1.6 mm in width by law, presumably to make rolling pipe tobacco too difficult – a fine example of the petty spite and malice of anti-smokers. Doesn’t work, but don’t tell ’em that!
Pipes and cigars are rarely mentioned in results, though in fact they were mentioned in the actual survey [How many pipefuls in a week? As if I’d know! Does anyone count?].
I haven’t bought tobacco since the budget but I reckon it’s around the €10.50 [around £9.40?] for 25 grammes. Why 1.6 mm? That doesn’t make any sense at all. But then nor do a lot of their crappy laws.