National Non-Smoking Week

A Dryden Doctor says tobacco is a highly addictive substance and stresses one can’t quit overnight.
This is National Non-Smoking Week and Dr. Karen Mazurski says smokers will see some benefits, even if they quit for only a couple of days.
Mazurski says aides are available at the Hospital, the Northwestern Health Unit and the Family Health Team.
She says it takes most smokers an average six quit attempts before they are successful.
Meantime, the Ontario government is using the occassion to
encourage more people to butt out, but Premier Dalton McGuinty says he won’t ban smoking in apartment buildings.
McGuinty says the Liberals have been pretty aggressive in banning smoking in cars with children, or pretty much any public place where it would impact the health of others.
Some apartment dwellers complain they suffer second-hand smoke from neighbouring units, but McGuinty says that’s a line he’s not prepared to cross.
He says it would be pretty intrusive for the government to go into someone’s home to determine what activities are appropriate or inappropriate.
McGuinty says the principle that a person’s home is their castle is still an important one in our society.
At an unrelated event Wednesday, the Government announced that participating family health teams will provide smokers with nicotine patches and gum, as well as addictions counselling, for free starting in the spring.