Technical Paper 2:
Tobacco Control in Australia: making smoking history
3.3 - Improve services and treatment for smokers
- Overview and summary of action proposed
- Summary of proposed measures
- 1 - Introduction: the big picture
2 - Progress in meeting National Tobacco Strategy objectives: trends and concerns
3 - Progress in Australia on recommended policies and programs- 3.1 - Regulate
- 3.2 - Public education: Increase promotion of Quit and smoke-free messages
- 3.3 - Improve services and treatment for smokers
- 3.4 - Better support families and educators
- 3.5 - Tailor messages and services for highly disadvantaged groups
- 3.6 - Address causes of disadvantage
- 3.7 - Improve focus in research, monitoring and evaluation
- 4 - What next, what first and for what cost?
- Major sources used in this document
- References
- Addendum for October 2008 to June 2009
In Australia in 2007, more than 4.3 million people classify themselves as ‘ex-smokers’, outnumbering current smokers by more than four to three.[15] With a steady decline in both the number of cigarettes smoked each day[15] and a decline in the proportion of smokers who smoke heavily,[80] there is little evidence of a ‘hardening’ of the smoking population.[318]
Stories and advertising in the media and graphic warnings on packs all help to personalise the health risks of smoking and trigger quit attempts. Smoke-free workplaces and public places, and social pressure not to smoke around others give people other extremely good reasons to quit and remain smoke-free,[117, 319] and these policies and restrictions on promotion reduce some of the triggers that increase the chance of relapse.[148, 155]
While population-level strategies will encourage and assist many people to quit, achieving the second goal of the national strategy – to encourage and assist as many smokers as possible to quit as soon as possible – requires attention to the problem of most smokers being dependent on tobacco-delivered nicotine.[320, 321] Heaviness of smoking and other indicators of dependence are highly related to failure in quitting,[82] with SES disparities apparent in levels of nicotine dependence, confidence about and intentions to quit,[84] and the average number of years people smoke prior to quitting.[322] The sheer number of people who once smoked but now do not shows that it is not impossible, but quitting smoking can be a very difficult process nevertheless.[323] Succeeding requires a great deal of determination and the adoption (conscious or not) of strategies to overcome withdrawal and triggers to smoke.