Smoking is a stress relief,” says one of the interview subjects of this Filter film about the reasons people smoke cigarettes, despite the severe harms, and the benefits they find in nicotine.
The eight people featured live in community-supported housing in New York City and have mental health issues ranging from depression to anxiety to schizophrenia. Each person explains the origins and extent of their smoking, what they like about it, and the methods they have used to try to quit. These methods include nicotine patches—shown by a recent major study to be only about half as effective as vaping as a quit method.
The film front-loads the voices of an often-ignored population group that has the highest rates of morbidity and mortality due to smoking.