The City of Hamilton Public Health Services is pleased to partner with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to offer smokers in Hamilton a 10-week supply of free nicotine replacement therapy to help them quit smoking, as part of the Stop Smoking Therapy for Ontario Patients (STOP) study.

The nicotine replacement products that will be offered include the nicotine patch, gum, or the inhaler.

To receive the free nicotine replacement products, smokers will need to attend an information session and agree to be part of the province-wide STOP study. Smokers who are interested should call the City of Hamilton Tobacco Hotline at 905-540-5566 and press "1" to see if they qualify for the study and to register for an information session.

The deadline for registration is December 17. Information sessions will be held on Wednesday, December 19 where participants will learn about quitting smoking and pick up the free supply of nicotine replacement therapy.

Double chances

"Studies have shown that using nicotine replacement therapy can double a person's chances of quitting smoking successfully," said Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, medical officer of health for the City of Hamilton.

"Participating in the STOP study will help smokers to quit without having to worry about being able to afford to purchase nicotine replacement products."

Minister of Health Promotion Margarett Best added, "For those who are ready to quit smoking, we need to be there to help them along the way. Using nicotine replacement therapy can help reduce the withdrawal symptoms that people may experience when they quit smoking. "

The goal of the STOP study is to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods of providing nicotine replacement therapy to Ontario smokers.

The study is conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion and Ontario Public Health Units.