Grant: Operating Grant

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in Canada. While the percentage of adult smokers decreased from 35% to 19% over the twenty years from 1985 to 2005, little further decline occurred in the years following. Large scale strategies are needed to further reduce the number of smokers in Canada. One strategy generating interest is mass distribution of Nicotine Replacement Therapy to smokers. Research on Nicotine Replacement Therapy generated promising results, showing that it successfully helps many smokers quit smoking. However, no research study adequately addresses how effective mass distributions of Nicotine Replacement Therapy are in reducing smoking rates. Telephone numbers will be randomly selected from across Canada in order to recruit adult smokers interested in completing a smoking survey and willing to be interviewed again in 8 weeks and 6 months time. Study participants will be asked about their smoking history and a hypothetical question: would they be interested in receiving the Nicotine Patch if this were to be provided to them free of charge? Participants expressing interest will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will be offered the opportunity to actually receive a program of 5 weeks of the Nicotine Patch for free right away and the other group will not be offered the free Nicotine Patches. The proportions of smokers in the two groups who quit smoking by the 6-month interview will be compared. Evidence that reduction in the number of smokers can be attributed to large scale distribution of free Nicotine Replacement Therapy will provide a strong argument that more initiatives of this type should be undertaken in Canada to further reduce the number of preventable deaths.