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New York State right to treat tobacco addictions - 7/24 |
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For decades, mental health and substance abuse facilities gave out cigarettes as a reward - or to comfort those who were seen as struggling with more dangerous addictions than mere nicotine. |
But the research shows that nicotine kills more people than all other addictive drugs combined.
So, effective today - the anniversary of the state law that prohibits smoking in most indoor spaces - all agencies that the state pays to help people addicted to alcohol or drugs must be tobacco-free. That means no smoking in their buildings or vehicles, either by the 35,000 staff members or by the 110,000 people that the Office of Alcoholism & Substance Abuse Services and its funded agencies treat on a given day.
It also means that the state's Department of Health will provide smoking-cessation aids to treatment facilities, to help people addicted to nicotine to kick that habit while they work on their other chemical addictions, too. That's a wise, holistic approach, since studies have shown that the urge to smoke increases the desire for other drugs.
This profound change of a policy and a culture is a smart attempt by the office's commissioner, Karen Carpenter-Palumbo, to heal all of a person's addictions together.
Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.
---www.newsday.com |
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