How would you like to get your hands on free products to help you kick the habit? It sounds too good to be true, but in British Columbia it’s reality. A politician there announced a $25 million program that would provide free nicotine-replacement therapies and smoking-cessation prescription drugs. The program is expected to help more than 600,000 people.
“We’ll give you up to a 12-week supply of nicotine replacement products if you want to quit smoking, and the price of prescription drugs will be covered under Pharmacare as soon as you get a doctor’s prescription,” Premier Christy Clark told smokers at a press conference. “It’s like getting paid to quit.”
Clark also spoke of her struggles to quit smoking. “I’m grateful I made the decision to give it up but it was a very, very tough decision, as anyone who has struggled to quit smoking will tell you,” she said. “Now others will have an opportunity to put their smoking days in the past.”
The program, which also includes anti-smoking drugs such as Zyban, is expected to cost the province between $15 and $25 million and fulfils a campaign promise by Clark. The program will be covered by the $682 million a year generated by provincial taxes on tobacco products. Other provinces already have a similar program.
Clark hopes the program will cut down on the 6,000 deaths caused by smoking in British Columbia each year and cut down on the $2.5 billion in health care associated with it.
About Zyban
While only British Columbians qualify for this program, doctors do advise people who want to quit smoking to ask about prescriptions like Zyban. This drug works differently than nicotine gum, because it’s a medication that does not contain any nicotine. People taking Zyban plan a quit date and are gradually weaned off tobacco. The patient isn’t required to stop smoking immediately.
