By Adam Donnelly

B.C. Government chips in to end tobacco use

Jan 22, 2016 | 4:29 PM

KAMLOOPS — If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to quit smoking, but you’re still puffing on those darts, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake has some good news for you. The province will chip in to help you butt out.

This week is National Non-Smoking Week, and Lake visited Glover’s Pharmacy today to help remind smokers that since January 1st 2016, the province has been covering their nicotine replacement products, free of charge. All it takes is a visit to a pharmacy and chat with a pharmacist.

“It’s an opportunity for pharmacists to sit down with the patient,” said Glover’s pharmacist Julie Ford. “The day they decide they want to quit smoking, we can develop that rapport with them… Today, they can go home with that [nicotine replacement] product.”

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Wayne Pettipas has been smoke free for almost two years, thanks to the program. He says the removal of the barriers to treatment, like not having to sign up over the phone or online, as well as the new types of nicotine replacement products which are available, should make things easier for those looking to cut tobacco out of their lives.

“I wish that I had these products available for me at the time [I was quitting smoking], and I wish I didn’t have to phone the number, said Pettipas. “I think it’s really good for people that have an addiction to tobacco.”