Sound Stories. Sound Voices.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
You are on the KUOW archive site. Click here to go to our current site.

The Complex Relationship Between Smoking And Mental Illness

Cigarette tobacco smoke
Flickr photo/Ta Duc (Cc-BY-NC-ND)

A recent study from the Centers For Disease Control has found that nearly one-third of mentally ill adults are smokers. In fact, they’re 70 percent more likely to smoke than adults without mental illness. The relationship between cigarettes and mental hospitals is a complicated one. Historically, smoking was common in mental hospitals. It was even used as an incentive for patients at times. Now, more and more treatment facilities are becoming smoke-free. What does this mean for patients who rely on the habit for comfort?Pam Belluckhas been writing about these issues. She covers health and science for The New York Times.

Also This Hour: We talk with Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw about the Magnuson Park lawsuit. Then, KUOW’s Phyllis Fletcher explains the Federal Family Medical Leave Act. We talk with law professor Ryan Calo from the University of Washington about the privacy laws in the United States in the wake of Mayor McGinn's decision to stop the Seattle Police Department's drone program. Plus, we get a weekend weather forecast from state climatologist Nick Bond.