Jump to full article: Minneapolis (MN) Star Tribune, 2002-09-03
Author: Josephine Marcotty / Star Tribune
Intro: Starting Thursday, just about anyone who smokes can get nicotine patches or gum for free, or for the price of a co-payment, by calling the state's Tobacco Helpline.
The Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (MPAAT), the nonprofit group that got $202 million from the 1998 settlement with cigarette makers, is adding nicotine-replacement therapy to its two-year-old phone counseling program for people who want to quit.
Tobacco addiction specialists said the two strategies will give smokers readily available, statewide help for quitting -- an approach recommended by federal health agencies.
"Nicotine replacement in combination with counseling . . . doubles the quit rate," said Dr. Marc Manley . . .
The plan is the first piece of a broader smoking-cessation initiative being developed by MPAAT. . .
In July, Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch ordered MPAAT to temporarily cease funding the community smoking bans that have been a major focus, and spend more on helping smokers quit.
Fetsch will review the group's smoking-cessation efforts at a Sept. 24 hearing. A spokesman for the attorney general's office said Hatch would have no comment until he had seen all the details.
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