Centretown residents who smoke may have new motivation to kick the habit: free medication.
The complimentary drugs are part of the Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients study, a province-wide program that explores the most effective methods to help people quit. In Ottawa, the study is being carried out by Ottawa Public Health in collaboration with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. It is funded primarily by the Ministry of Health Promotion, a provincial government department with a goal to help Ontarians make healthier lifestyle choices.
The treatment sessions take place on Nov. 26 and 27, but Carol McDonald, a supervisor with tobacco control at OPH, says they are accepting registrants to be pre-screened as late as Nov. 25.
Those who qualify will receive nicotine replacement therapy medication, in either a patch, gum, or an inhaler, for five weeks free-of-charge. Counsellors will also be readily available on-site to lend support during the one-day treatment session, McDonald says. Participants are then monitored throughout the study after six months and then a year to follow their progress, says Gary Wheeler, a Ministry of Health Promotion spokesperson.
“The study makes it convenient for people trying to quit,” says McDonald. “They go to one session, they have an interview, and then they are eligible for free nicotine replacement therapy that they pick up on site after their counselling. It’s like one-stop-shopping.”
There will be three locations throughout Ottawa where participants will be directed for the treatment sessions, one of which will be in dowtown, McDonald says.
Research has shown that people trying to quit smoking are more successful when aided with the help of counsellors and nicotine replacement medication, McDonald explains. But many smokers attempting to quit don’t have access to these resources.
“There’s no doubt that cost is a barrier,” says Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, about challenges smokers face when trying to quit. The nicotine patch and gum is available without prescription in Canada, but with an average price of $23 for a box of seven one-day use nicotine patches, many people can’t afford to even attempt the quitting process.
While the STOP program is the first of its kind in Canada, the study was already carried out in Ottawa last year. The results are not yet available, McDonald says, as it can take up to two years to analyze the information. But she predicts the treatment plan will be successful this year, based on results of other STOP studies throughout the province. Since the program began, Wheeler says the study has provided counselling and treatment to 53,000 smokers in Ontario.
Each location is accepting about 60 patients and there is still space available, says McDonald. But, she says, smokers under the age of 18 and pregnant women are not eligible to take part.