As part of a commitment to healthy families in B.C, Premier Christy Clark announced Tuesday morning that starting this Friday nicotine replacement therapies will be available at no cost and smoking cessation prescription drugs will be covered under PharmaCare.
"Each year, more than 6,000 British Columbian needlessly die from tobacco use," said Clark in a news release. "By providing convenient and direct support, we are helping British Columbians live smoke-free and improve their health as well as the health of their families. By reducing the number of people who smoke, not only will we prevent or delay the onset of diseases like heart attacks and cancer but also avoid the millions of dollars cost on our health care system."
By calling HealthLink BC at 8-1-1 and registering for the smoking cessation program, B.C. smokers who are covered by MSP and who wish to quit will be able to receive free nicotine gum or patches either by mail or at their local community pharmacy once they receive a reference number from HealthLink BC.
As part of this program, varenicline (Champix) and bupropion (Zyban) will also be covered by B.C. PharmaCare beginning Sept. 30 and will be available with a prescription. People will need to see their doctor for a prescription and be registered in a PharmaCare plan to receive coverage for these products. The level of coverage will depend on a person's PharmaCare plan.
Eligible B.C. residents can receive a single continuous course of treatment lasting up to 12 consecutive weeks with either a prescription smoking cessation drug or an NRT product once every calendar year.
The estimated cost of the program is an estimated $15 to $25 million depending on the number of individuals who use the program.
Marnie Mitchell, CEO of BC Pharmacy Association, welcomed the opportunity for pharmacists to work with the Ministry of Health on this program.
"For many years, community pharmacists have been helping patients through smoking cessation clinics. This program will further support this work," added Mitchell.
Smokers are encouraged to visit www.health.gov.bc.ca/pharmacare/stop-smoking/ and www.quitnow.ca to plan their quit first. The B.C. smoking cessation program will be available to smokers anytime after Sept. 30, so smokers can choose to register whenever they are really ready to quit.
While B.C. has the lowest smoking rate in Canada at 14.3 per cent, there are approximately 550,000 British Columbians who smoke. An estimated 70 per cent of smokers in B.C. want to quit.
QuitNow Services offers British Columbian smokers help to quit smoking
24 hours a day - www.quitnow.ca. Services include an on-line quit community with professional and peer support, email or text message services and a telephone quit line - now available by calling 8-1-1 - with information available in 130 languages.
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