TACKLING health inequality will be the key challenge the next Holyrood administration will have to address, anti-smoking campaigners have insisted.
Ash Scotland said smoking rates in the most deprived communities are four times higher than they are in the wealthiest areas.
With a third of tobacco in the UK consumed by those with mental-health problems, the next government should also include smoking in its national strategy on mental health, it suggested.
In addition, it called for action to raise awareness of higher dementia rates among smokers, with the risk of developing the disease up to 70 per cent greater.
With about 10,000 retailers across Scotland selling tobacco, Ash Scotland is also demanding assistance for retailers so they can “shift their business model away from reliance on a harmful product in long-term decline”.
Chief executive Sheila Duffy said: “Scotland’s health priority must be to redress that balance and ensure every group has the support they need to take back control of their own health and well-being.
“Smoking is rarely a simple, freely-made lifestyle choice and is heavily influenced by a range of social and economic factors. To reduce the harm caused by tobacco, we need to look at the pressures which push certain groups to smoke and make it harder for them to quit.
“Socio-economic status, mental health and the context in which people grew up all have a huge impact on whether they smoke.”
The Ash Scotland manifesto said that in Scotland “health inequalities are the widest in western Europe”.
It added: “Smoking rates in the most deprived communities are four times higher than in the richest.
“Almost half of adults who are permanently sick or disabled, or who are unemployed and seeking work, smoke tobacco. Smoking rates are particularly high amongst people with mental health issues, the prison population and children in care. In every one of these groups, most of those who smoke say that they want to stop.”
While there has been “great progress” in research into the causes of dementia, the campaign group said there should also be a “complementary strategy for dementia prevention which addresses the various factors which increase dementia risk, including smoking”.
It said there were eight times more outlets selling tobacco than there were pharmacies, adding: “The government should commit to helping retailers shift their business model away from reliance on a harmful product in long-term decline.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here