National

One More Hurdle Removed For B.C. Smokers Hoping To Quit In 2016

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 30 Dec, 2015 02:05 PM

VANCOUVER — The B.C. government is making it easier for smokers who want to kick the habit in 2016.

Health Minister Terry Lake says starting Jan. 1, anyone who wants to quit no longer needs to call HealthLink BC at 8-1-1 to join the province's smoking cessation program.

Lake says smokers can sign up at any pharmacy and have access to free nicotine replacement therapy products.

Options include nicotine lozenges, inhalers, gum, the nicotine skin patch, as well as specific prescription drugs.

B.C. Pharmacy Association CEO Geraldine Vance says pharmacists are committed to helping patients lead healthier lives and want to assist smokers with making 2016 the year they quit successfully.

The smoking cessation program began in 2011 and the province says it has invested more than $38-million since then, helping more than 187,000 people try to kick the habit.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Conservatives Ramp Up Economic Sales Pitch With Days To Go In Election Campaign

Joe Oliver held an event in Toronto to target Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's fiscal plan, which includes a pledge to run deficits of up to $10-billion a year for three years to put money into infrastructure projects.

Conservatives Ramp Up Economic Sales Pitch With Days To Go In Election Campaign

13 Indo-Canadian Veterinarians Win Decade-Long Racism Case Against College

"I was not fighting for money, I was fighting for justice. You don't know the hell I have lived through and continue to live through," Hakam Bhullar, owner of Atlas Vet Clinic in Vancouver

13 Indo-Canadian Veterinarians Win Decade-Long Racism Case Against College

Unions Renews A Call For Public Inquiry Into Fatal B.c. Mill Blasts

The Steelworkers, WorkSafeBC and the BC Coroners Service all agree the document was entered into evidence at last spring's inquest into the 2012 explosion at Lakeland Mills in Prince George, B.C.

Unions Renews A Call For Public Inquiry Into Fatal B.c. Mill Blasts

Kaitlyn Regehr, Canadian Woman Groped On A London Bus Wants To Buy A 'Pint' For Man Who Helped

Her post says the man who came to her rescue told the person who grabbed her buttocks that it was not acceptable

Kaitlyn Regehr, Canadian Woman Groped On A London Bus Wants To Buy A 'Pint' For Man Who Helped

Alberta Judge Acquits Boy Of Murder Who Shot Abusive Dad To Protect His Mother

The boy, known as H because he can't be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was only 13 when he shot his father twice with a rifle on Aug. 5, 2013 near a remote community in northern Alberta.

Alberta Judge Acquits Boy Of Murder Who Shot Abusive Dad To Protect His Mother

Jorin Dann-Mills, 8, Identified As Boy Who Died After Being Hit By Garbage Truck In Hope

Jorin Dann-Mills was crossing a road in the community about 150 kilometres east of Vancouver just after noon on Wednesday when he was hit by the truck.