On July 23, New York became the first state in the nation to outlaw smoking in centers for recovering addicts. New York’s state-run rehabilitation centers have been smoke free for over a decade, but the new policy will require private treatment centers to follow suit. Proponents of the policy argue that recovery centers should provide an opportunity to learn skills for overall health rather than swapping out one addiction for another.

Thanks to an $8 million grant from the New York Department of Health, recovery centers will receive free nicotine replacement therapy and their personnel will receive training to effectively treat nicotine addiction.

New York addicts say they’re afraid the new ban will keep them from enrolling in rehab programs. Tobacco is legal, they say, and provides enough comfort to help them through the first stages of rehabilitation. Yet as reported in a 2004 study in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, tobacco cessation provided in conjunction with addiction treatment has been associated with a 25% increased chance of long-term sobriety. 

Jake*, a close relative of mine, first smoked marijuana when he was 10 years old. Throughout the seven developmental years that followed, he secretly turned to marijuana to help him get through the hard times, to get him through the week, to get him through the day – and eventually, to help him get through the hour. He was physically, behaviorally, and psychologically dependent upon marijuana. It was so comforting, he once told me, to taste and feel the smoke going in and out of his lungs. Like most smokers, he admitted it wasn’t just the effects of the drug that he craved—it was also the act of smoking.

It’s no surprise then, that when he first entered rehab at 17 he quickly fell into the AA habit of smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day. His caretakers were of the opinion that tobacco was the lesser of evils: removing a behavior—the act of smoking—from his daily routine as well as depriving him from the chemicals he was dependent upon would just be too much of a shock to his system.

The road to recovery is a bumpy one indeed, and I have to wonder if Jake’s few slips back into drug use have had anything to do with the fact that he is now physically, behaviorally, and psychologically dependent upon tobacco. When life gets stressful, he can escape for a moment outside and take a quick drag. Rather than relying on his own coping skills, he turns to an emotional crutch and physical high.

My heart goes out to Jake and those who are like him. He is an addict, and he is taking steps to learn how to care for himself. But he has not yet mastered these skills and he does what he can to survive. The worst part, in my estimation, is that the people he trusts to guide him along the path to recovery are turning a blind eye on his newfound addiction.

Those who suffer from any kind of addiction have many battles to fight. If we encourage them to learn life-long skills for positive, healthy behaviors, we cannot be lax on their standards of care. I applaud those in New York who took the steps to provide comprehensive programs that will help addicts gain the knowledge and tools they need to develop skills for a healthier life.

*name has been changed to protect subject’s identity