A Dime for Dependency and Dying

The logic of not permanently earmarking a portion of the proposed S.C. tobacco tax increase to fund effective statewide nicotine dependency recovery and prevention isn't just mind boggling it's unchristian.

Charleston, S.C. (PRWEB) January 27, 2004 -- I watch as our Senate President battles hard to obtain millions in public funding to preserve our latest Civil War relic and wonder why he doesn't fight with half as much vigor to preserve the 5,584 sunrises that half of our state's adult smokers are currently scheduled to lose. Why?

The CDC released a January report indicating that 53.6% of all South Carolina adult everyday smokers made a serious quitting attempt of at least one full day during 2002. Sadly, our annual relapse rate is so high that the percentage of S.C. adult smokers actually rose from 24.7% in 2000 to 26.6% in 2002. Why?

The experts assert that breaking nicotine's chemical grip upon the brains dopamine, adrenaline and serotonin pathways is harder than quitting heroin or cocaine. In fact, the "harder to quit than heroin" warning has adorned Canadian cigarette packs since 2000. The CDC tells us that dependency upon smoking nicotine annually kills roughly 20 times as many South Carolinians as all illegal and prescription drugs combined.

Our governor and legislature have not allocated one penny to help save any of our 6,000 citizens who'll smoke themselves to death this year or any of 700,000 addicts lined up behind them. Our legislature's response to nicotine delivery engineering advances that promise even higher annual kill rates -- such as cigarette brands employing free-basing of crack nicotine -- has been to accept record levels of tobacco industry campaign contributions.

In March 2003 we learned that when all over-the-counter nicotine patch and gum studies are averaged that 93% of study participants relapsed to smoking within six months. In November 2003 we were told that 36.6% of all current nicotine gum users are chronic users of at least six months and that the relapse rate for second time patch users is nearly 100%.

They're fighting for their very lives, failing miserably and now we're going to pretend that taxing their brain's chemical addiction to nicotine without providing any effective avenue of escape is in their best interests and our state's long-term best interest.

If a high quality dependency recovery program helped Rush Limbaugh enhance the odds of reclaiming control of his brain's dopamine reward pathways then why wouldn't the program's core curriculum enhance the nicotine addict's odds of doing the same?

The more we look upon those dependent upon nicotine as a dependable funding source the greater our state's conflict of interest in ending institutionalized treatment discrimination against them. Yes, a 10% increase in the price of cigarettes will result in 1 in 100 adult smokers quitting but will also force an unknown percentage of low-income addicts to choose between feeding their addiction nicotine and feeding their children milk.

We have the know-how and ability to offer every nicotine addict in our state effective local recovery programs generating midyear cessation in the neighborhood of 40%. How much sense does it make to stick our finger in a badly leaking financial dam behind which 14% of all annual Medicaid costs are attributable to smoking, when the water level can be lowered?

Why fund effective drug treatment programs for illegal drug users while denying treatment to 90% of all smokers whose only crime was trying to look more adult as children or teens?

We have a golden opportunity to earmark a dime from each pack to fund statewide nicotine dependency prevention and recovery. It's a dime that annual CDC surveys suggest that 70% of SC smokers would gladly pay. They want effective recovery and prevention interventions but their government doesn't. Why?

Let's be honest about what we're doing. Nicotine-Free Quest cigarettes have been as big a flop as attempting to smoke rolled leaves from the backyard. The plant's real name is "nicotiana" and we are about to raise the nicotine tax big-time as S.C. becomes "Big Tobacco's" irresponsible partner in helping institutionalize pandemic dependency upon nicotine.

by John R. Polito
Nicotine Cessation Educator

###

John R. Polito
1325 Pherigo Street
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
john@whyquit.com
(843) 859-9721

(Financial Declaration: John is a former thirty-year three pack-a-day smoker and the founder and director of WhyQuit.com, the interent's oldest and largest free forum devoted to nicotine cessation. He also teaches free cessation and dependency prevention programs in the Charleston area. John has never accepted any income, funding or any monetary donation from any source in connection with any cessation or prevention work.)