Nicotine patches to be offered to England smokers

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12084956
Publication date: 28 December 2010

Smokers who wants to quit in the new year are lucky; the government is offerring free nicotine patches. The patches are part of the NHS Stop Smoking Quit Kit and are available at chemists from the first of January. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley says 'that he is hoping more than 400.000 people will try to give up smoking using the kit which is supplied by the Department of Health'. Smoking is still the greatest avoidable cause of early death in the UK; up to 80.000 lives a year are lost.

Reaction:
I do not think free nicotine patches are the solution for quitting smoking. Most of the people who decide to quit smoking in the new year are starting smoking again soon. If you really want to quit smoking you can do it without patches. The patches only work for the physical addiction, while the mental part of the addiction is the hardest part to overcome.