£12.50 a week incentive to stop smoking in Dundee

[charliecat]

No £12.50 for the people who didnt start smoking in the first place

i agree with find.

allow the ban more time to work.

go ahead with taking the other measures and the stiffer penalties for people who sell fags to minors.

they're raised the age of purchase to 18.

I guess the reasoning is that people are rewarded for making the decision to stop smoking - i.e. making a healthy life choice.

It won't surprise you to know that NHS has targets for this sort of thing - so even if smoking is a personal choice etc etc - NHS still has to try new things to hit targets.

dundee is shit and you know it.

not a fan of the NorthEast then MrsMacaroon?

i've only been once, for a party. we took the train up and were well and truly pished by the time we arrived.

only to get further rat-arsed at our pal's house.

couldn't tell you a thing about the place.

LOL just being a wind up merchant

whispersit is shit though

Flashman, where exactly in "you could also argue that the amount the NHS spends on treating smokers discriminates against non-smokers anyway. And the £12.50 is on top of what the smoker will save in not buying cigarettes - which could add up to a good incentive. I think it's an interesting pilot, and at least someone's making the effort to do something about helping people kick a habit which may make them ill." did you get the idea that I was against the £12.50 pilot? I do wish you'd read my post properly before accusing me of fickle changes of mind.

And for what it's worth, I don't smoke, I've never smoked, but I do care, and I would like people who smoke and would like to stop to get some support so that they don't get ill. Will this scheme work? I have no idea. Might it be worth a try? Probably.

cc i'm surprised this is your thread! patches are quite expensive

I don't know if the £12.50 idea is a good one, but what makes me laugh the most is when people start saying that smokers shouldn't get treatment on the NHS - the amount of tax smokers pay on each packet they should be able to go private nevermind anything else! i would guess that the amount our goverment make in taxes per year off cigarettes more than covers the NHS bill for treating them.

I used to smoke a pack+/day. After, I'd smoke whenever I was out on the lash.

My mother has COPD from smoking. Just listening to her voice, I'll not smoke again.

DH is still on about a pack a day - roll ups.

NO incentive to quit will ever work unless the person really and truly wants to quit.

DH has seen his dad develop insulin-dependent diabetes at a young age, over a decade after he quit smoking (because MIL nursed her father through emphysema till his death, she refused to go out with FIL unless he stopped smoking) but he continues to smoke.

You could pay him a king's ransom. Until he is absolutely determined to quit, he will continue to smoke.

That's why I think this 'give them cash' scheme is doomed to fail.

It's worth a shot but I don't think there'll be a big uptake. And it's food vouchers, isn't it, not cash.

Doesn't matter what it is. Folks will take the piss.

It takes enormous determination to stop smoking.

Best to target trying to get people never to start in the first place.

I spoke to my Dad about this the other day as he still lives in Dundee. A friend of ours in Germany heard about the pilot scheme on the radio here and asked me about it.

Dad says that the scheme is availabe to pregnant women, they will have to prove that they are smokers (through carbon monoxide test) and that they have stopped. They will be given the money for using to buy groceries at the local supermarkets.

I think it is a good idea. If it is coupled with a support group such as my Dad is going to (He stopped smoking 3 weeks ago ) then it might even help some pregnant women stop smoking.

And for what its worth, I agree with Dixie. If you have not visited Dundee in the past 20 years then you have no idea of the changes that have taken place. It is much nicer than it used to be.

Give it up for baby has been running since last summer and was recently extended to Perth.

45 women taking part, most of whom have managed to stay off the cigs at least during their pregnancies. I would say that is worth the 12.50 (maximum) a week.

I'm pregnant and so skint, I'd be willing to puff for a few days and prove myself a smoker in order to get that kind of money for food.

I really would. I used to smoke, it's not like I don't know how to do it, and I still crave it.

Bet I'm far from alone.

I think a lot of people would join you in that idea expat.

For an extra 50 quid a month, I would seriously consider it, find. I really would. We have a very large gas bill to pay yet, and we're very, very worried about how we're going to heat this place come winter.

so I wonder if they will consider giving me £12.50 a week to go on a diet (am lardarse)? I mean fruit and veg is bloody expensive.

and given that nicotine is so addictive, you could end back on the weed expat, as could a load of others

yes, i used to grow weed, charlie, which is not mixed with tobacco in the US.

but i wouldn't touch it here, because unlike in the US, if i were caught with it here, i would have my citizenship revoked and deported and banned for life, after serving time in jail.

and FWIW, i was never 'on weed' the way i was on cigarettes. i had it recreationally when it was in season and could take it or leave it.

not so with fags.

but people are fooling themselves if they think this will work when all people will do is take the piss out of it.

dundee has the lowest breastfeeding rate in scotland- fact.

To take my dundee-hating hat off momentarily, i was up there a couple of months ago and it was a leetle bit nicer than when I lived there 14 years ago.

so in other words, MrsM, there's a reason it's called 'Scumdee' ?