From: johnpolito@comcast.net
Date: Sun, 01/25/04
The logic of not using a portion of the proposed tobacco tax increase to fund
effective statewide nicotine dependency recovery and prevention isn't just mind
boggling it's unchristian. We 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 equally as hard to preserve the 5,584 sunrises that
half of our state's adult smokers are currently scheduled to lose. Why?
The CDC just reported (Jan. 2004) 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 brain's
dopamine, adrenaline and serotonin pathways is harder than quitting heroin or
cocaine. The 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 promising even higher 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 structured recovery program helped Rush
Limbaugh reclaim control of his brain's dopamine reward pathways why would the
tools needed to reclaim control of a smoker's reward pathways be any different?
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. A 10% increase in the price of
cigarettes will result in 1 in 100 adult smokers quitting and an unknown
percentage of low-income addicts being forced 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 programs 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 smoking 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.
John R. Polito
Nicotine Cessation Educator
1325 Pherigo Street
Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
(843) 849-9721
john@whyquit.com
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