C. Flower
04-07-2011, 07:00 PM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/04/iceland-considers-prescription-only-cigarettes
Iceland is discussing a plan to stop young people from taking up smoking. Cigarettes would be prescription only and would be cheaper under the scheme than they are now.
As there is no way that cigarettes would be licensed now, if they were a new product, does this not make every sense ? Should Ireland follow suit ?
"Under our plan, smokers who are given prescriptions will be diagnosed as addicts, and we don't think the government should tax addicts."
Gudnason said current cigarette pricing in Iceland did not take into account the huge costs imposed on society by smokers. "A packet currently costs around 1,000 krona [£5.50], but if you factor in the cost of sick leave, reduced productivity due to smoking breaks and premature retirement on health grounds, it should really be 3,000 krona," he said.
The tobacco proposal also says that nicotine should be classed as an addictive substance. "It's as hard to give up nicotine as heroin, not in terms of the side effects, but in terms of the cravings and how quickly one becomes addicted," said Gudnason.
"We also want the government to license cigarettes like a medicine, which would mean they would have to go through the same rigorous trials as any other drug. I doubt cigarettes would ever get on the market now that we know the side-effects – lung cancer, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."
Gudnason said 300 out of the 1,500 deaths in Iceland each year were caused by one of those three conditions.
"That's 20% of all deaths. We think that our proposals could lead to a significant reduction in smoking-related deaths – perhaps down to just 100 annually."
The proposal also suggests that tobacco smoke should be treated as a carcinogenic substance, and that it should be restricted in a similar way to other known carcinogens, because of the known effects of passive smoking.
Gudnason did a study five months after Iceland introduced a smoking ban in restaurants and pubs in 2007 and found a 21% reduction in acute coronary syndrome (heart attacks and near heart attacks) among non-smoking men, compared to five months before the ban.
Iceland is discussing a plan to stop young people from taking up smoking. Cigarettes would be prescription only and would be cheaper under the scheme than they are now.
As there is no way that cigarettes would be licensed now, if they were a new product, does this not make every sense ? Should Ireland follow suit ?
"Under our plan, smokers who are given prescriptions will be diagnosed as addicts, and we don't think the government should tax addicts."
Gudnason said current cigarette pricing in Iceland did not take into account the huge costs imposed on society by smokers. "A packet currently costs around 1,000 krona [£5.50], but if you factor in the cost of sick leave, reduced productivity due to smoking breaks and premature retirement on health grounds, it should really be 3,000 krona," he said.
The tobacco proposal also says that nicotine should be classed as an addictive substance. "It's as hard to give up nicotine as heroin, not in terms of the side effects, but in terms of the cravings and how quickly one becomes addicted," said Gudnason.
"We also want the government to license cigarettes like a medicine, which would mean they would have to go through the same rigorous trials as any other drug. I doubt cigarettes would ever get on the market now that we know the side-effects – lung cancer, heart attacks, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."
Gudnason said 300 out of the 1,500 deaths in Iceland each year were caused by one of those three conditions.
"That's 20% of all deaths. We think that our proposals could lead to a significant reduction in smoking-related deaths – perhaps down to just 100 annually."
The proposal also suggests that tobacco smoke should be treated as a carcinogenic substance, and that it should be restricted in a similar way to other known carcinogens, because of the known effects of passive smoking.
Gudnason did a study five months after Iceland introduced a smoking ban in restaurants and pubs in 2007 and found a 21% reduction in acute coronary syndrome (heart attacks and near heart attacks) among non-smoking men, compared to five months before the ban.