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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
If Yellowknifers are considering kicking the habit and have an NWT health card, another incentive has just been added to the pile of reasons why they should quit smoking.

Pat Neary quit smoking in the 1970s and she says no matter what help is available for smokers, it is up to the individual to take the initiative to quit. - Katherine Hudson/NNSL photo

As of Aug. 12, through the NWT's general health care benefits, the territorial government will be covering the cost of approximately three months worth of nicotine replacement therapies or smoking cessation prescription drugs per year for residents.

The replacement therapies include nicotine gum, lozenges, patches or inhalers and the prescription drugs commercially known as Champix and Zyban.

Miriam Wideman, a health promotion specialist for the department, said this announcement allows for an "even playing field" so everyone has access to the products if they feel they want to use them to quit smoking.

"We recognize that tobacco is a big cost-driver in our health care system and it impacts a lot of illness. It's the largest cause of preventable death and illness," said Wideman. "We feel that treatment of all the other diseases are so costly that if we have a relatively inexpensive way of helping people quit smoking we should make that available fairly universally."

Wideman said nicotine replacement therapies such as patches and gums provide a small dose of nicotine to replace that which is normally delivered through cigarettes or other tobacco products.

"Those products provide a steady, low level of nicotine into the blood that helps to keep you from having cigarette cravings that happen when you tend to try to get off tobacco," she said.

Wideman said the prescription drugs that are covered help reduce the desire to smoke and can be taken after a doctor is consulted.

She said the three months worth of supply is a generalized period.

"Everyone is different. Some people will use them a lot shorter. There are some people who use it longer as well."

About 36 per cent of people in the NWT are current smokers, according to the Department of Health and Social Services 2010 NWT Addictions Report, down from 44 per cent in 1996.

There was no significant change in the quit rate between 1996 and 2009, but the proportion of residents who have never smoked increased.

According to the Lung Association for Alberta and the NWT, more youth smoke in the NWT than in any other province, with smoking rates among youth ages 10 to 17 being the highest in Canada at 27 per cent. The national average is 19 per cent.

Pat Neary smoked for about six years when she lived in British Columbia and quit in the early 1970s before moving to Yellowknife.

"My mother asked me one time, 'Do you think you need that cigarette?' and I told her, 'no.' I put it down, and I never did again.

"I'd rather spend my money on music."

Although Neary is now a senior and would have had prescriptions for smoking cessation aids covered before last week's announcement under the extended benefits plan, as do status aboriginals and people on social assistance, she said in the end it is up to the individual to decide to quit smoking.

"Either you're going to quit or you won't," said Neary.

According to Damien Healy, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Services, last year the GNWT spent approximately $55,000 on such therapies and prescription drugs for those who have extended health benefits.

There are also other options available to those interested in quitting smoking.

The GNWT has worked with the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health to provide training on smoking cessation to 45 health care providers throughout the territory. Regional Health and Social Services Authorities also offer tobacco cessation assistance, and there is the NWT Quitline, a toll-free helpline staffed 24 hours a day.

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