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CMAJ: Governments: pay for smoking cessation 

If smokers in Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. can be reimbursed for products that could help them quit smoking, why aren't Canadians?

That's the question asked in an editorial in this week's Canadian Medical Association Journal, co-written by two of the journal's editors, along with two professors from the University of Calgary's Department of Medicine.

The authors note that 19 per cent of Canadians still smoke and that number has remained stagnant in recent years. They also note that all provinces have brought in legislation that prohibits smoking in workplaces and public areas.

"Why, then, do most provincial governments provide little or no direct funding for smoking cessation?" the authors ask.

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