ANTI-SMOKING Aggressive program proposed

The group proposes raising the excise tax on cigarettes by $2 per pack.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
WASHINGTON -- Four former surgeons general and other medical experts proposed an aggressive strategy Tuesday to encourage people to quit smoking, including a steep increase in federal cigarette taxes and a broad cessation assistance program.
The surgeons general, along with a national task force on smoking called the Subcommittee on Cessation, said their 10-step plan could help 5 million smokers quit in the first year of implementation by giving the poor, the least-educated and racial and ethnic minorities access to treatment for tobacco dependence.
"We are at a crossroads in our efforts to control tobacco use and its toll of disease and death," said former Surgeon General Dr. Julius Richmond.
If Congress and the president adopt the plan, he said, it could become the "public health success story of the 21st century."
About the plan
The plan, which suggests both federal programs and public-private partnerships, calls for providing universal access to cessation treatments, training clinicians to help patients quit smoking and investing in research about tobacco use, as well as an extensive media campaign to discourage smoking. The program is projected to cost about $5 billion a year.
One of the proposals, a smoking cessation hot line, will be established by year's end, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced plans Tuesday for a national network of smoking cessation "quitlines," which he said could help improve public health.
Department spokesman Bill Pierce said though the announcement of the quitline network was not directly linked to the release of the subcommittee's proposal, the group was created at Thompson's request, and the agency also is implementing other suggestions in the 10-step plan.
Some of the suggestions that have not been implemented include insurance coverage for tobacco dependence treatment for those on Medicare and Medicaid and providing counseling and medications for anyone who wants to quit.
But an insurance industry official said most companies provide coverage to help clients quit smoking.
Tax increase
To cover the plan's cost, the subcommittee proposes increasing the federal excise tax on cigarettes by $2 per pack. The group estimates the tax would raise $28 billion, half of which officials said should be used to pay for the program and the other half of which could finance other federal initiatives or ease the growing deficit.
Steven Milloy, publisher of junkscience.com, a Web site dedicated to examining the scientific underpinnings of government policies, said the 1998 multibillion-dollar settlement between the government and tobacco companies already has provided enough money for anti-smoking efforts.