Smoking Allowed in Designated Area - Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programs - Columbia, IL.

It is estimated that approximately 75% of clients at residential rehabilitation facilities for drug addiction and alcoholism are smokers. While it is a fact that nicotine is addicting and people in any sort of treatment for addiction should strive to be free from all addictive substances, this can present problems that make enforcing a non-smoking facility outweigh the advantages of such restrictions. A person who is addicted to a substance as life threatening as drugs and alcohol might not agree to get help if they must quit smoking cigarettes, so therefore, many facilities in Columbia allow smoking with certain restrictions, limitations and in designated areas.

Some facilities permit clients to smoke anywhere, so long as it is outside for instance. Some facilities have a designated smoking area, and this is the only area that clients are allowed to smoke in. Because nicotine is an addictive substance, even treatment centers that allow smoking usually offer alternatives to smoking if the client wants to quit, such as nicotine patches, nicotine gum and prescriptions. There are also facilities that allow smoking in designated areas, but provide education on the health risks associated with smoking by integrating this into their program either by way of direct education or by providing educational literature for clients to examine. In programs which allow smoking in designated areas this is typically only authorized for clients, whereas staff are sometimes restricted from smoking at the center or are encouraged to not smoke in front of clients.

Publicly funded substance abuse rehabilitation programs are obligated by the rules and restrictions in regards to smoking that are imposed by state and federal agencies which oversee and administer these programs. Private rehabilitation facilities have a little more tolerance and don't have as many rules and restrictions imposed on them, so may be more likely to provide designated areas for smoking.

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