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Comment by AnotherGoodName | Hacker News Reader

Such a simplistic view.

Here's something to consider: Nicotine alleviates the symptoms of schizophrenia which affects 1% of the population. https://www.brainfacts.org/archives/2008/smoking-and-schizop...

So put yourself in their shoes. They need financial aid because their mind is broken. One of the few things that calms the screaming voices is a cigarette. Nicotine acts on the brain in various ways and it literally alleviates the symptoms of a severe disease.

So yes they need financial aid but it's really arrogant that you're so sure you know better than them on how to spend it. You're also not giving them a learning experience. Remember that the goal is for them to dig themselves out of their hole. By not allowing them to succeed or fail you aren't setting them up for the day they are financially independent.

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There are many less harmful ways of ingesting nicotine.

Yep they're transitioning to e-cigarettes these days. Despite that being way better (less tar) there's still community outrage whenever a homeless person is seen using any form of nicotine. "Why are they spending their money on that if they don't have a home!". It's a very naive viewpoint once you realize that their priorities are perfectly reasonable given their condition.

are nicotine lozenges, gum, patches etc not options?

Once a medical doctor approves, for sure they can get it.

Putting aside the difficulties of those in need seeing a doctor and affording a prescription... Unfortunately we're at the early stages of understanding nicotines role in brain chemistry. Scizophrenics have been chain smoking since the start. But medicine is only just catching on and understanding why the majority of those with Scizophrenia chain smoke.

With this in mind you can look back at all the judgements made on the mentally ill. It's common for people to think "Why are they buying cigarettes if they don't have a home!".

Turns out that viewpoint was wrong all along. The ability to think at all is indeed a top priority, perhaps higher than housing or food. It turns out that the crazy person using money they receive to buy smokes wasn't making poor choices after all. They were doing the one thing that gave them a chance at clarity of thought. Understandable. Yet we were judging the way they spent their money the whole time. We were wrong and we should take that lesson and continue calling out overly simplistic viewpoints along the lines of what you said above.

While I'm with you on your main point throughout this thread, I do think making doctors bureaucratic gatekeepers is a very bad idea.

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