- B.C. joins other Canadian provinces in an important shift towards preventative medicine to help people stop smoking by offering free patches, gum and drugs for 12 weeks.
After a recommendation from theCanadian Medical Association Journal(CMAJ) suggested that more Canadian provinces help subsidize their residents efforts to quit smoking, British Columbia on Canada's West Coast has become the latest province to use taxpayer money in the effort to curb smoking.Currently, only Quebec funds the program completely, while Prince Edward Island and the Yukon pay for parts of their respective programs. Saskatchewan also announced last December that they too will begin reimbursing their citizens for parts of their quit-smoking efforts. In Canada, health care funding falls under provincial jurisdiction, and so no national plan is possible.In B.C., the program will start on September 30, and will cover a 12-week supply of nicotine gum, anti-smoking patches, or the smoking-cessation drug. It will be available to residents who currently possess active medical coverage.BC estimates that the program will cost anywhere between $15M and $25M annually. But as theCBCpoints out, "each year, more than 6,000 British Columbians die from tobacco use. The cost to the B.C. economy is approximately $2.3 billion annually, including $605 million for direct health-care costs."Weighing the cost of $25M in preventative care with upwards of $2.3B in direct health-care costs should make the cost of the program seem a pittance in comparison to the alternative.The CMAJ asks "given the major personal and public health consequences of tobacco use, why are most of Canada’s governments lagging behind?"The reports editorial goes on to state that, "Perhaps our policy-makers think we should not be subsidizing poor lifestyle choices. If so, we ought to deny public funding for heart surgery to patients who continue to smoke or stop paying for care of patients with smoking-related cancers." Kathy Moore and Ashley Walker, smokers and residents of Nanaimo, B.C., are thrilled that the program has come into place. Both plan to sign up when the program begins. According toCanada.com, "Moore [has] spent $300 on laser therapy, only to start smoking the next day. Walker has been smoking for a decade and hasn't been willing to quit until now because of the expense."Moore adds that "I think this program is great ... we should have had this a long time ago. But I think they also should give us more choice around [nicotine patch] brands because one might not work for everybody."Dr. Derek Poteryko, one of the founders of the Canadian Cancer Society and Nanaimo's Central Island Smoking Intervention Clinic, believes that the program is a step in the right direction. As to the role that doctors will play in rolling out the program, Poteryko is less than clear."I'm in the dark about how this program is rolling out," he said. "But because people have to be regulated over the amount of aid they get, I think we'll have to be the gatekeepers."The initiative from B.C. and another Canadian provinces marks an important shift in how medicine and politics are dealing with the health and economic costs of smoking. A shift towards preventative measures over remedial measures could save B.C. and other jurisdictions hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that would be spent later to deal with the effects of smoking.And while kinks remain to be ironed out in how the program will be delivered, smokers, doctors, and politicians alike agree that the program in B.C. is long overdue.
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