Time to abolish publicly-funded stop smoking services
Tuesday, September 3, 2019 at 8:30 I was due to appear on BBC Sussex yesterday morning to discuss a new anti-smoking campaign being launched by East Sussex County Council.
I was asked on Friday but they wouldn't tell me anything about the campaign because it was "under embargo" until midnight on Sunday.
Early yesterday I checked online but there was nothing about it (not even on the BBC Sussex news page) so I was faced with going into the interview 'blind', as it were.
Ten minutes before I was due on the producer rang to say the item was being dropped because they wanted to cover another issue – something to do with a local MP and Brexit.
Fair enough. That sort of thing happens all the time.
The producer did however send me the council’s press release and I could see why the story got the chop because to call it 'news' was a bit of a stretch:
One in Two East Sussex Smokers Will Die Early, According to New Campaign
A hard-hitting and heart-wrenching campaign launches today (Sep 2) across East Sussex highlighting the devastating impact of tobacco on smokers and their loved ones. The ‘Be There Tomorrow’ campaign urges smokers to quit now using local help available to them.
According to Darrell Gale, director of public health for East Sussex County Council:
“There is so much free help available locally to help you quit smoking. A lot of smokers aren’t aware that you’re up to four times more likely to quit smoking successfully if you go to your free local Stop Smoking Service than if you try to quit using willpower alone.
“They are based in easily accessible locations, such as pharmacies and GP surgeries, and can give you help and advice, from learning how to cope with cravings to finding the best way to help you quit.”
Essentially, then, the launch of the 'Be There Tomorrow' campaign was little more than a plug for the county's stop smoking services.
I don't know the figures for East Sussex but I do know that nationally smoking cessation services have faced an increasing struggle to justify their existence.
From 2010 to 2016 the number of smokers using them to help them quit fell by over 50 per cent, which tells its own story.
Anyway, before writing this I found a report, dated January 2019, that was headlined ‘East Sussex County Council is looking to slash 230 jobs in a bid to balance the books'.
Now, I don’t like to see people lose their jobs but a very obvious saving for “cash-strapped” East Sussex County Council would be the abolition of all publicly-funded stop smoking services.
It’s hardly rocket science yet tobacco control is demanding the very opposite - greater investment in a service that is clearly past its sell-by date and is used by fewer and fewer smokers to less and less effect.
Meanwhile, who should be whinging about government cuts to smoking support services but the ‘UK’s biggest vaping retailer'.
According to a report published yesterday:
“Our customer engagement tells us that most smokers want to quit,” said Doug Mutter, director at VPZ.
“Sadly, the huge cuts in public health spending is currently failing smokers throughout the country and they are being denied the vital help that can truly transform their health and wellbeing.”
Failing smokers? Oh, give it a rest. You sound just like the tobacco control industry.
But here's the twist. Prompted by the “huge cuts in public health spending”:
VPZ said it is set to launch a new support service in its stores to help smokers turn from cigarettes for good, amid the reduction in available support.
Great idea.
If vaping companies want to encourage smokers to switch to alternative products by setting up ‘support services’ within their own stores, that’s absolutely fine.
The point is, they – not the taxpayer – should foot the bill.
Reader Comments (4)
The one in two smokers die figure is a lie.
Why worry about those dishonest blues losing their jobs? After all, the anti s.oker industry and it's lackeys are working to make smokers both unemployable and homeless.
The hate campaign and downright lies told to ensure these dishonest charlatans funding continues must end. Irresponsible nournists promoting that hatred without question must begin to scrutinize the outright lies told by that vested interest orvanisation
Dunno what happened when writing that comment with so many wrong auto corrects getting through. 😂😂
There you go. A good example of my light touch moderation policy!
A better sample of someone writing without wearing reading glasses 😂😂😂