The totally unenforceable new smoking ban in the grounds of Raigmore seems set to go ahead despite its many flaws, all of which are worth listing.

Firstly, there are no statutory powers enabling this new smoking ban to be enforced. You can't take cigarettes off people, that's theft. You can't exclude them from NHS care in breach of the charter and undoubtedly a few human rights laws.

Of course, our local NHS management team has made allowances for the sick and the bereaved to smoke, but how are we to identify them? Do you have to be bereaved or can you get a chitty if your dad isn't expected to make it through the night? With there be an allowance for bad news, "this man has only a few weeks to live, he'll need a fag when he gets out"!

And of course there is the final question of challenging the smokers within the grounds and the increased risk of assault that this will create, with the inevitable court case involving a middle-aged security guard and the man who just lost his wife.

So Raigmore, grow up and remember that laws only work if they are reasonably enforceable and that even in Scotland smokers have a place in the NHS that they pay for.

Bruce R. Norval, 11 Deans Road, Fortrose

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