Radio Workshop

Butts Out! (Transcript)

by Andrea Lee

NARRATION

It's hard to find an ashtray in a bar these days, but 'No Smoking' signs are everywhere. The smoking ban that went into effect on March 30 was one part of the New York City Department of Health's anti-smoking campaign. Now, it's spending about 10 million dollars on promoting and running various programs to help New Yorkers quit.

ACT 1 FRIEDEN

Our business to promote and protect the health of every New Yorker. If we didn't do anything about smoking, we might as well close our doors, because that is THE number one health problem in New York City.

NARRATION

Dr. Thomas FREE-den is New York City's Health Commissioner. He announced on Thursday that the city will be giving away free nicotine patches to the first 35,000 New Yorkers who call a state-run quit smoking hotline. He acknowledged that quitting smoking is not easy, but said that nicotine-replacement therapy with a patch doubles the likelihood that a smoker will quit for good.

ACT 2 FRIEDEN

This is a health benefit, a medical benefit, and we want to make sure that people have accessibility to the programs that they will benefit from.

NARRATION

The city is paying about 1/3 the regular retail price of the patch, which normally runs at about $52 for a box of 14. The commissioner would NOT say, however, which company was providing the patches.

ACT 3 QUIT LINE MAIN MENU

Thank you for calling the New York State Smokers' Quitline.

If you would like to speak to a quitline specialist, press 1. If you would like general information about stopping smoking mailed to you, press 2. If you would like to listen to prerecorded messages to help you stop smoking, please press 3.

NARRATION

Another program is the 3-year-old NY Quits hotline. Counselors can talk a would-be quitter through a craving or simply answer questions. Callers can also listen to messages about stop smoking medications, how to cope with the stress of quitting and how to identify typical withdrawal symptoms. The hotline follows normal business hours, though callers can leave a message in off-hours asking a counselor to call them back.

But some smokers need more than a comforting voice on the phone to help them quit.

ACT 4 SIMILTON 1

I just don't see it working.

NARRATION

Althea Similton is 51. She has been smoking for 30 years.

ACT 5 SIMILTON 2

All the things that I've been through, cigarettes have been my friend. Throughout all these trials and tribulations, I never even thought about stopping...even with the 7-dollar hike, that didn't, I mean, 'cuz I'll always find a way to get a pack of cigarettes.

NARRATION

Similton recently had the little toe on her right foot amputated after blocked arteries in her leg stopped the flow of blood into her foot, causing gangrene. Smoking is one of the major risk factors for this type of blockage. Having a toe cut off was Similton's wake-up call.

ACT 6 SIMILTON 3

But then until I had the surgery and I realized that tar and nicotine was what was clogging up the arteries in my legs, I said "I got to stop this, this is killing me!"

NARRATION

Similton enrolled in a free smoking cessation program at the Lincoln Medical Health Center in the Bronx. It's one of 14 programs the city is paying for. Those who enrol receive free counseling and free Zyban, a medicine that mimics the effects of nicotine on the brain, thereby cutting down cravings.

The program is a hands-on version of the hotline. Participants attend meetings and the number of cigarettes they smoke is monitored closely.

Similton has tried to quit before, but is confident that this time, it might just work.

ACT 7 SIMILTON 4

When I talked to a person that's really, really stopped because they used x, y and z, I'm going to start using x, y and z.

NARRATION

The city is doing its best to make cessation programs like this one as easy to access as possible. Barrier-free entry has proven to be an important factor in their success.

ACT 8 FRIEDEN 3

Any barrier at all, going to the doctor, having to make a separate trip to the pharmacy, going to have a get a permision for something, or approval from an insurance company...greatly reduces the number of people that will try to quit.

NARRATION

This year, the city is spending less than 2 percent of the hundreds of millions of dollars it gets from taxes on tobacco and payments from the great tobacco lawsuits of 1998. But Audrey Silk, head of Citizens Lobbying Against Smoking Harassment, feels that the city's anti-smoking campaign has gone too far.

ACT 9 SILK

I don't know of any other program that's been pushed like this by a government. This is really government trying to push people to do something rather than offering advice and a service for people that would like to take advantage of it.

NARRATION

Commissioner Frieden remains nonplussed. He expects the free-patch program will help 7,000 smokers quit over the next six months. By that time, New Yorkers might be used to bars without ashtrays.

For Columbia Radio News, I'm Andrea Lee.