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Rise in number of smokers stubbing it out
6:13pm Tuesday 19th February 2008
HUNDREDS of smokers sought help in stubbing it out following the introduction of the smoking ban.
The number of people contacting Bolton's Stop Smoking Service soared by 36 per cent between July and December last year, compared to the same six months in 2006.
However, figures show only the same number were successful in their bid to give up.
The ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, introduced on July 1 last year, is thought to have provided the catalyst for many people hoping to give up.
A total of 2,699 patients were seen by staff in the six months after the introduction of the ban last year, while just 1,982 people contacted experts for help between July and December in 2006.
Adrian Butterworth, manager of Bolton's Stop Smoking Service, said: "The smokefree regulations have brought many more people seeking help to our services.
"Quitting smoking is not easy but with perseverance and free support from Bolton Stop Smoking Services, a lifelong quit is possible."
Despite the massive increase in the number of people seeking help from the service, the number of actual quitters is exactly the same as in the same six months the year before.
A total of 957 managed to successfully stub it out for four weeks or more, according to the latest statistics.
Experts are determined to encourage more people to stop smoking and now have 26 stop smoking clinics throughout the borough.
New clinics have opened at the Westhoughton, Waters Meeting, Crompton Tonge Fold Health Centres.
Mr Butterworth said: "To try to help as many Bolton residents as possible, we have put on more stop smoking clinics, some on the evenings and at weekends where the latest treatments and advice can be obtained from experienced stop smoking advisors.
"This will increase the chances of quitting by 20 times compared to going cold turkey."
Mr Butterworth added that latest statistics showed half of patients with the service who managed to quit smoking for four weeks were still not smoking after 12 months.
For more information about Bolton Stop Smoking Service call 01204 462345.
Your Say Yourtheboltonnews
boris, west sussex says...
6:23pm Tue 19 Feb 08
If it's because of Nanny telling them, then they are wimps.
chas, suffolk says...
6:24pm Tue 19 Feb 08
boris, west sussex says...
6:26pm Tue 19 Feb 08
That last thread closed in record time.
boris, west sussex says...
6:33pm Tue 19 Feb 08
burnden4ever, burnden says...
9:25pm Tue 19 Feb 08
That is good news, not only for their health and for the environment, in this I mean all the toxins that at let into the air when someone light up a cigarette or cigar, but it is also good for others aorund them - no longer smelling of smoke or wafting the somke away from them so not to inhale the awful smell and all that.
At this rate the number of smokers will be the same as it was about 700 years ago, which was vitually none. If I remember my history correctly tobacco was actually introduced into England as a food herb rather than a smoking polutant, and it was for about 100 years before people started smoking it.
chas, suffolk says...
9:42pm Tue 19 Feb 08
Despite the massive increase in the number of people seeking help from the service, the number of actual quitters is exactly the same as in the same six months the year before
gm, lancs says...
10:03pm Tue 19 Feb 08
RW, says...
10:17pm Tue 19 Feb 08
The chemicals in tobacco smoke are the same as in a woodsmoke, except for food additives the manufacturers put in unecessarily, which it appears have not been tested as suitable for burning.
Organic additive free tobacco smells much nicer.
MICK, BOLTON says...
10:42pm Tue 19 Feb 08
I smoke and was thinking of giving up till the ban came in but carried on because im not being forced to stop(you see im stubborn) and treated like a second class citizen made to stand outside id rather stop going to the pub.
Im going for my patches at weekend and am going to stop on my terms.
chas, suffolk says...
8:40am Wed 20 Feb 08
You have said how many smokers feel. The number of smokers was decreasing every year until nanny interferred.
mukarram, bolton,lancashire says...
9:07am Wed 20 Feb 08
To slove this problem, we need to lock these smokers in a container for an hour, filled with msmoke, and let them breath in, the fithy air. This will sort them out once and for all.
chas, suffolk says...
9:33am Wed 20 Feb 08
To slove this problem, we need to lock these smokers in a container for an hour, filled with msmoke, and let them breath in, the fithy air. This will sort them out once and for all.So you agree with separate rooms in pubs for smokers.
RagReader, Horwich says...
1:23pm Wed 20 Feb 08
chas wrote:How did you arrive at that conclusion from the above comment?
mukarram wroteTo slove this problem, we need to lock these smokers in a container for an hour, filled with msmoke, and let them breath in, the fithy air. This will sort them out once and for all.So you agree with separate rooms in pubs for smokers.
chas, suffolk says...
2:01pm Wed 20 Feb 08
A container is something that one puts things in.
A room contains furniture, so is a container.
chas, suffolk says...
2:25pm Wed 20 Feb 08
What did I say yesterday? People can show their distaste for smokers, but not against others with distasteful ways of life.
burnden4ever, burnden says...
6:06pm Wed 20 Feb 08
chas wrote:From how i read mukarram comments what he is trying to say that once these prople have been in a container for an hour they will probably stop smoking.
mukarram wroteTo slove this problem, we need to lock these smokers in a container for an hour, filled with msmoke, and let them breath in, the fithy air. This will sort them out once and for all.So you agree with separate rooms in pubs for smokers.
So in other words I belive that he does not believe in smoking rooms
chas, suffolk says...
6:22pm Wed 20 Feb 08
You surprise me.
burnden4ever, burnden says...
6:25pm Wed 20 Feb 08
chas wrote:Well its how read mukarram comment.
burnden4ever. You surprise me.
How you came to your conclusion is your perogative but mine is that I do believe he does not believe in smoking rooms and does not believe in smoking, either
chas, suffolk says...
6:35pm Wed 20 Feb 08
There will also be selfish people in this world. If pubs had smoking roooms and he stayed out of those rooms, then he should have nothing to complain about.
burnden4ever, burnden says...
6:51pm Wed 20 Feb 08
How can that be selfish?
It is a like or dislike with his own opinion.
I am assuming that mukarram is a he, I could be wrong!
RagReader, Horwich says...
6:53pm Wed 20 Feb 08
chas wrote:A coffin is a container, I wouldn't want to smoke in one.
Ragreader A container is something that one puts things in. A room contains furniture, so is a container.
burnden4ever, burnden says...
6:56pm Wed 20 Feb 08
Selfishness, I believe, is not about likes or dislkies but it is about how one treats another. An opinion cannot be classed as selfish (in my opinion).
But it is how you or anyone else interprets the opinions.
Then saying that is there anyone that is right or wrong? An opinion is just that and opinion it can be both right and wrong!
Anyway rant over.
I am sorry if you think that I have had a go, I haven't - honest guv.
chas, suffolk says...
7:05pm Wed 20 Feb 08
A coffin is a container, I wouldn't want to smoke in one.If you get cremated, you will.
chas, suffolk says...
7:07pm Wed 20 Feb 08
RagReader, Horwich says...
7:08pm Wed 20 Feb 08
chas wrote:Very true!
ragreader wroteA coffin is a container, I wouldn't want to smoke in one.If you get cremated, you will.
boris, west sussex says...
8:45pm Wed 20 Feb 08
Rugrat will have this deleted.
RagReader, Horwich says...
11:09pm Wed 20 Feb 08
boris wrote:No I won't, I'll leave it so people can see the sort of paranoid tripe you post.
Rugrat the censor, if you don't agree with me, I'll delete your posts. Britain today, full of EXTREMISTS. Rugrat will have this deleted.
I only report your posts if they are personal abuse or untrue.
RagReader, Horwich says...
11:19pm Wed 20 Feb 08
boris wrote:A PS. I don't have the power to delete your comments, the editorial staff must have agreed they were offensive.
Rugrat the censor, if you don't agree with me, I'll delete your posts. Britain today, full of EXTREMISTS. Rugrat will have this deleted.
boris, west sussex says...
1:41pm Thu 21 Feb 08
LONDON (Reuters) - Tesco said on Thursday that it wants to work with the government to limit the sale of cut-price alcohol, amid growing concerns over the damage binge drinking does to society.
(Advertisement)
Britain's biggest supermarket chain said it could be accused of breaking competition rules unless ministers change the law to allow higher alcohol prices to be fixed.
Tesco's Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director for corporate and legal affairs, said the changes must apply to all retailers, or shoppers would simply go to cheaper outlets.
"All shops that sell alcohol need to act together -- and this is where we are being held back by the law," she said in a statement. "Competition law prevents businesses discussing anything to do with price with each other.
"The only safe solution is for the government to initiate and lead these discussions."
Supermarkets have come under intense pressure from police, doctors and politicians to raise prices.
They say cheap alcohol fuels youth crime and anti-social behaviour and places a huge strain on the National Health Service and police.
Labour MP for Selby John Grogan described Tesco boss Terry Leahy last year as the "godfather of British binge drinking".
A report last month said beer was cheaper than water in some stores.
Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo welcomed Tesco's commitment to work with the government and said it had ordered a review into alcohol prices and their impact on drink problems.
"It is vital that we understand which supermarket practices really impact on harmful drinking and which are simply helping hard-pressed family budgets," she said in a statement.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said a review of the impact of alcohol on health, policing and local councils was due to report shortly.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform said: "Any action related to alcohol pricing or price promotions would require legislation and we are currently considering a number of options."
RagReader, Horwich says...
2:55pm Thu 21 Feb 08
RagReader wrote:No comment from Boris?
boris wrote: Rugrat the censor, if you don't agree with me, I'll delete your posts. Britain today, full of EXTREMISTS. Rugrat will have this deleted.A PS. I don't have the power to delete your comments, the editorial staff must have agreed they were offensive.
boris, west sussex says...
3:31pm Thu 21 Feb 08
No comment from Boris?
They were removed because your lack of remorse for the incident was appalling, you try to justify the ban, even under circumstances were people are attacked.
Did the ban cause the incident to happen yes or no???
Answer instead of deleting.
RagReader, Horwich says...
4:11pm Thu 21 Feb 08
boris wrote:I don't have the power to delete your comments, the editorial staff must have agreed they were offensive.
Rugrat wroteNo comment from Boris?They were removed because your lack of remorse for the incident was appalling, you try to justify the ban, even under circumstances were people are attacked. Did the ban cause the incident to happen yes or no??? Answer instead of deleting.
boris, west sussex says...
4:25pm Thu 21 Feb 08
Answer
Did the ban cause the incident to happen yes or no???
boris, west sussex says...
4:47pm Thu 21 Feb 08
£10 licence to smoke' proposed
Smokers would have to get a licence to light up under the plan
Smokers could be forced to pay £10 for a permit to buy tobacco if a government health advisory body gets its way.
No one would be able to buy cigarettes without the permit, under the idea proposed by Health England.
Its chairman, Professor Julian Le Grand, told BBC Radio 5 Live the scheme would make a big difference to the number of people giving up smoking.
But smokers' rights group Forest described the idea as "outrageous", given how much tax smokers already pay.
Professor Le Grand, a former adviser to ex-PM Tony Blair, said cash raised by the proposed scheme would go to the NHS.
He said it was the inconvenience of getting a permit - as much as the cost - that would deter people from persisting with the smoking habit.
"You've got to get a form, a complex form - the government's good at complex forms; you have got to get a photograph.
"It's a little bit of a problem to actually do it, so you have got to make a conscious decision every year to opt in to being a smoker."
'Extra bureaucracy'
He added: "70% of smokers actually want to stop smoking.
"So if you just make it that little bit more difficult for them to actually re-start or even to start in the first place, yes I think it will make a big difference."
But Forest said it would be "an extra form of taxation, while tobacco taxation is already at record levels".
Forest spokesman Simon Clark said that when the cost of administration, extra bureaucracy and enforcement are taken into account, "the mind boggles".
He added that the people most affected by the proposals would be "the elderly and people on low incomes".
Mr Clark added: "The senior government advisor putting this idea forward is not only adding to the red tape and bureaucracy we already have in this country.
"He is openly bragging that he wants to make the form as complex as possible to fill in."
A department of health spokeswoman did not rule out such a scheme as part of the next wave of tobacco regulation.
She said: "We will be consulting later this year on the next steps on tobacco control.
"Ministers are seeking input from a whole range of stakeholders."
RagReader, Horwich says...
5:22pm Thu 21 Feb 08
boris wrote:No,unless you can prove me wrong.
Rugrat AnswerDid the ban cause the incident to happen yes or no???
chas, suffolk says...
7:29pm Thu 21 Feb 08
You forgot to mention that Professor Julian Le Grand was the Senior Government advisor. He also said on that programme, 'I don't actually think the arguments on passive smoking are all that strong'. Did you deliberately forget to mention that?
RagReader, Horwich says...
7:45pm Thu 21 Feb 08
chas wrote:Think you mean Boris, he posted the smoking story.
Ragreader. You forgot to mention that Professor Julian Le Grand was the Senior Government advisor. He also said on that programme, 'I don't actually think the arguments on passive smoking are all that strong'. Did you deliberately forget to mention that?
He does tend to deliberately forget things.
chas, suffolk says...
7:52pm Thu 21 Feb 08
boris, west sussex says...
12:11am Fri 22 Feb 08
I assume you are in favour of smoking permits???
RagReader, Horwich says...
9:22am Fri 22 Feb 08
boris wrote:Never assume, as a non smoker I couldn't care less,it would be expensive and unworkable anyway so it ain't going to happen.
Rugrat I assume you are in favour of smoking permits???
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markd, bolton says...
6:22pm Tue 19 Feb 08
Despite the massive increase in the number of people seeking help from the service, the number of actual quitters is exactly the same as in the same six months the year before.
So wheres the rise?