PROVIDENCE –– With a symbolic dismantling of the plexiglass hut in which smokers would huddle to puff through winter and bad weather, Butler Hospital has gone smoke-free throughout its campus: no smoking or tobacco use is allowed anywhere on the hospital’s sprawling green grounds.

Several hospitals around the state have already banned smoking on outdoor hospital property, and more are scheduled to follow later this year, according to the Hospital Association of Rhode Island.

The no-smoking decree at Butler, which took effect Thursday, applies to everyone: staff, patients, vendors and visitors. Until Thursday, smoking had been banned indoors, but had been allowed outside. Landscapers were laying new sod around the former smokers’ hut, which has been recast as a garden gazebo.

The number of smokers among patients at Butler is probably far higher than at other hospitals: Butler serves psychiatric patients, who smoke at more than double the rate of the general population, said Richard Brown, the hospital’s director of addiction research. Among Butler’s patients, maybe 60 to 70 percent smoke, he estimated.

Butler is offering medications, including nicotine replacement gum and lozenges, and counseling and support groups for smokers affected by the new rule –– all with a nudge toward getting people to quit.

For Dana Blakey, 53, who works as a chef at Butler, the new policy means no more breaks during work for some fresh air and a smoke. “This will be tough the first few days,” he admitted. “I’m chewing the gum.”

Butler has about 800 employees. If they smoke at the rate of the general population –– around 20 percent –– that would be about 160 smokers, Brown said. Those 160 or so divide into two categories: those who just need help getting through their shift without lighting up, and those who are ready to quit, he said.

Blakey, who typically smokes about a pack per day, counted himself among the quitters. An eight-hour shift “is a long time to go without a cigarette,” he said. “You might as well just quit.”

Dr. Patricia Ryan Recupero, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer, said Thursday that the disproportionately high use of tobacco by psychiatric patients is a serious health threat. “Whatever we can do to help our patients lead healthier lives, we need to do it,” she said.

Many psychiatric patients are confined to buildings at Butler, where smoking had already been banned. For the rest of patients, the hospital expects the health benefits to outweigh “whatever temporary discomfort” smokers may experience initially, said Brown.

Tobacco smoke, he said, is a very efficient “delivery system” for nicotine: the drug gets to a smoker’s brain within seven seconds after a puff. After quitting, the physical symptoms of withdrawal subside within 2 to 3 weeks, said Brown. The mental habit of lighting up can remain, which is why Brown recommends combining behavioral counseling and medication for people trying to quit. The first 90 days after quitting are the highest danger zone for slipping back, especially during periods of stress, he said.

Edward J. Quinlan, president of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island, said the association is working on a campus-wide no-smoking policy for all its member hospitals. The group plans to announce more details next month, and then establish smoke-free campuses later in the year.

“It’s a growing movement and we’re looking to do it as an industry,” he said.

Jim Blogg, an Illinois spokesman for Forces International, a group that speaks out against what it says are Draconian antismoking regulations, said in an interview Thursday that campus-wide smoking bans unnecessarily restrict personal freedom. “There’s no [public health] reason for not allowing people to smoke outdoors,” he said. “It’s going to make people mad. When you make people mad, it causes rebellion.”

marsenau@projo.com