to be furious that pregnant women in derbyshire are to be offered a cash incentive to give up smoking while pregnant.

[Wormshuffler]

Just reported on central news. Up to £750 in shopping vouchers.

i am a smoker, and it is hard to stop, tried many of times and failed

when pregnant i found it easy to stop even when ttc, but sometimes women cant, like i cant atm

YANBU that's bloody awful

But why is is bloody awful?? Surely what's bloody awful is continuing to pour millions of £ into other smoking cessation services/health promotion stuff which just doesn't work?????

Keep trying Mchappy!!-my nana finally gave up at age 74-sadly too much damage already done for her though.

My uncle is currently trying to give up againhe has managed a few months before and is currently on 2 months cigarette free-I am really proud of him as he knows it means so much to me.

the govt. could save themselves a whole lot more money by not going ahead with this scheme and just explaining to people how much they'd save if they quit.

They do, next to the wheels that explain how many units different drinks contain, there are cards that have the cost, weekly and yearly.

They are in all community buildings and in doctors surgeries etc.
There are also posters up compering the cost of buying a house to 30 years of smoking, in targeted areas.

So I go to my MW appt, I smoke, and the MW says you can get £750 if you quit.

TA, say I, pocket the cash/vouchers and exit.

On way home call into Newsagent for fags to smoke while I order all my new stuff this afternoon.

Who's going to force me to give the £750 back?

I am a person who smoked a lot. I loved smoking, if smoking didn't kill you I'd still smoke. The thought that smoking could reduce by even 1 day time I spend on earth with my DS is the reason I stopped. Didn't need a cash incentive, holiday to no-fags land or any other govt agency handout to stop a lifestyle choice.

Bully for you some will say.

Yes, I reply.

Exactly Gin

Throwing cash at something (or someone!) when it saves thousands and thousands in saved healthcare costs and health related benefit claims is the most sensible option surely?

Not doing it because it offends the never-smokers would be even more bloody stupid.

I know somebody who got £40 a month us her supporter - her husband also got £40 a month. She started again as soon as the baby was born despite the child being prem and barely able to breath :-(. I'd let them smoke themselves to death to be honest, natural selection.

So..... it's an addiction, and poor smokers can't help being in the grip of it, and we should all realise that they can't just jack it in.

Even the realisation that every fag is directly harming their unborn child, and every fag after the child is born will continue to pollute its environment, isnt' enough to make the smoker quit. The fags are more important.

Yet apparently, bung a few hundred quid their way and they'll miraculously conquer this addiction.

How does that work then

Will they pay non-smokers £750 to not take up smoking while pregnant? Not very fair otherwise
Seems a bit harsh on non-smokers who could really do with the money, but who lose out through having been sensible

bogeyface the idea doesn't offend me - it makes me think how unfair it is on others, that's all.

Enjoyrepsonsibly is the exact example of what somebody can do without any incentive.

My comments were irrelevant to me never smoking; I was explaining that an addiction is a choice to start with and once you make that choice, you can either let it take over you, as you did with smoking bogey but not with alcohol, or you can quit.

But as a friend always tells me when I'm finding dieting hard going, "you will only achieve success if you're mentally ready to take on the challenge".

yanbu

If it DID work though, or even reduce their smoking, the long term savings to the healthcare system would dwarf the 750 pounds.

:o

I didnt let it take over me! It is a highly addictive substance that I, in my young niavete, believed I would be immune to. I didnt choose to become an addict, no one does!

Really, it is a load of clap trap to suggest that someone just needs to decide to not be an addict, infact so ill informed as to be pmp laughable!

YANBU

I ashamedly smoked through all my pregnancies and thank God all was well. I'm not proud of it, I tried to give up. I did seriously cut down from 20 a day to 5 and in one case after my last child was outside smoking within 10 mins of giving birth. (Again, I am ashamed of this). My point is no amount of vouchers would have stopped me and believe me we were very skint during our first years together. However, if it works and helps to make a better life for a baby, why is it a bad thing. To those complaining I'm sure they do things as parents that others wouldn't agree with, or that makes them feel guilty.

Anyone of an age to get pregnant these days will have had shedloads of information available to them since they were born, about the dangers of smoking. Ignorance is no defence these days. If you choose to take up smoking, you know you are likely to become addicted.

I am still intrigued as to how on the one hand, smoking is this terrible addiction which apparently is more important to some people than their children's health, yet if a few hundred quid is bunged their way, then they might magically conquer it.

Even the realisation that every fag is directly harming their unborn child, and every fag after the child is born will continue to pollute its environment, isnt' enough to make the smoker quit

Thats absolutely true. For several reasons, one being that no one believes that they, or their child, will be one of the unlucky ones. Another being that in many areas where smoking is the norm rather than the exception there is often a culture of supporting each other in their disbelief of the health warnings etc so that they can keep smoking.

The reason the incentives work is because while health warnings can be ignored thanks to "Uncle Normal Syndrome", £750 is a tangible benefit to giving up. Far more attractive that lowering your risk of a cancer that you may not get anyway.

exactly callmemrs

YABU If it works then the cost saving to the NHS over the course of the pregnancy and that child's life will be greater. They should, however, evaluate the scheme to see whether it is effective.

And then even if they do give up for the pregnancy, they may start again and then the baby/child will be living and breathing the second hand smoke anyway.

bogey I obv. don't mean you simply think 'I'm not going to become an addict' then magically you give up. I understand about the physiological side of addiction as well - however with support and time, it is very feasible.....with will power.

But bogeyface, if its an addiction, then surely it's not simply a case of picking the most 'attractive' incentive, as you are now claiming? A true addiction would mean the smoker won't give up for an incentive.
This is where I find your argument strange. Either it's an addiction or it isn't.What you say in 22.32 post suggests that it isn't an addiction - it's a nasty habit which people prop each other to 'enjoy', but which they can actually conquer if they're bunged a wodge of cash.

Callme

Yes there is the information out there. But what age to people generally (GENERALLY, not always, dont flame me!) start smoking?

In their teens. And the one thing that everyone knows about teens is that they are invulnerable. They wont get old, they wont get ill, they wont die. Anyone who tells them that smoking is addictive or can kill them are just wankers who want to spoil their fun.

I am deeply ashamed of this, but feel free to laugh your ass off, when I was 16 and had been smoking about 6 months on and off, I said:

"I smoke because I like it and I know they are addictive but the day I need a cigarette is the day I will quit" :o:o:o

My rather stupid teenage brain had not processed the fact that the day I needed a cigarette was the day I couldnt quit because I was already an addict. Yes, I was that stupid.

prop eachother up to enjoy

I say this an ex-smoker, (not one of these "never smoker" people, so described to scathingly describe a person that simply cannot understand the need to do 20 Silk Cut) I find it incredible to compare smoking to addictions such as crack and anorexia.

True, I've not done crack, but I'm reasonably confident that sparking up a fag (which as i say i have done a lot) doesn't compare even a teeny bit.