Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Huff and puff
The Canadian Medical Association Journal says in its latest edition commercial products that help people quit smoking should be free because anything that reduces cigarette smoking is a positive thing.
Among other things, a reduction in smoking rates would save lives and reduce the cost of the health-care system, the CMAJ says, arguing governments should reimburse smokers for the cost of nicotine-replacement products.
Unfortunately, the medical association did not analyze the potential cost of such a program, except to say it would be offset by the savings in health-care budgets. The same could probably be said about offering free sardines, which have amazing health benefits, including weight loss, cholesterol reduction, heart health, stronger bones, vitamin D, and so on.
Cigarette smoking is, of course, a terrible addiction, but governments have done an excellent job in helping to eliminate it. In the 1960s, for example, roughly 50 per cent of Canadians smoked, but the number today is under 20 per cent, or less than five million people over the age of 15.
Education programs, combined with anti-smoking legislation, have made smoking a habit that is considered socially repugnant today. Unless smoking is outlawed, it's likely there will always be a hard-core group of smokers for whom education and free, smoking-cessation aids will not work.
A costly program is probably not in the best interests of the health-care system at a time when governments can barely fund their core responsibilities under budgets partly fuelled by tobacco taxes and free of the costs of tobacco replacements.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 1, 2010 A14
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“I recall a trip to Boston where we visited "the north end" (sort of an old part of town similar to the exchange district but better developed). There were beat cops everywhere and I have to say I really felt safe there. I don't know if we need 24 hour beat cops but it would be nice if they scheduled beat cops when there are events downtown that run later than their normal beat shifts.”
Posted by: Everybody Up
Article: Police officers walking the beat
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