A new guide setting out practical ways for drug services to help their clients reduce or quit smoking has been published by the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR).
Supporting tobacco harm reduction ‘does not have to cost services anything, aside from time,’ GSTHR says. The guide, Integrating tobacco harm reduction into drug treatment and harm reduction services, is accompanied by a briefing paper detailing the scale and impact of tobacco-related harm in this population, Smoking among people facing problems with drug use.
According to NDTMS figures almost half of people in drug and alcohol treatment are smokers, compared to just 12 per cent of men and 9 per cent of women in the general population. Recent analysis of mortality figures for 100,000 people showed that 63 per cent of those using heroin died before the age of 70, compared to just 16 per cent of the general population. Of these, 24 per cent died as a result of tobacco smoking – just 4 per cent lower than the 28 per cent who died as a result of illegal drugs.
‘Globally, drug services help hundreds of thousands of people avoid illness and death every year,’ says David MacKintosh, a director of K·A·C, which runs GSTHR. ‘The evidence shows that smoking rates among people who use drugs are much higher than national averages. We hope that these resources will help services and funders to reduce smoking, including by making use of the potential of tobacco harm reduction. This will play an important role in helping people live longer and healthier lives.’
‘Unless there is a collective effort from treatment services over half the people who use services will die from smoking-related causes,’ added Waythrough CEO Paul Townsley. ‘There are simple steps we can all do to help reduce the impact and burden of this.’
Meanwhile, a ‘polluter pays’ levy scheme on the tobacco industry could raise almost £5bn over five years at the same time as reducing smoking deaths, says a report from the Sheffield Addictions Research Group and the University of Bath. ‘By passing the Tobacco and Vapes Act, the UK government has protected a generation from the harmful effects of smoking,’ said Dr Rob Branston of the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group. ‘Our research shows there is an opportunity for further leadership by tackling the vast profits of an industry that kills more than half of its long-term users. This proposed policy would bring about multiple wins: it raises a large amount of money for the government, delivers health benefits, and helps the poorest the most.’
Integrating tobacco harm reduction into drug treatment and harm reduction services available here
Smoking among people facing problems with drug use available here
Reducing tobacco supplier profits and pricing power: Modelling the impact of a tobacco price cap and tax increase on socioeconomic inequalities in England is published in the journal Social Science and Medicine and available here