We are in December and the Tobacco Free Me (s) is over. The time to take stock has therefore come for this first edition which according to the Ministry of Health this initiative is a "great success". According to the Mois-sans-tabac.tabac-info-service.fr site, 180.155 participants were registered on Thursday morning.
I (S) WITHOUT TOBACCO: A COMPLETELY SUCCESSFUL OF THE INITIATIVE
About 180.000 French participated in " Me (s) without tobacco“, A new initiative in France to encourage smokers to stop smoking for at least thirty days. More than 620.000 smoking cessation aid kits have also been distributed, in pharmacies or for download, the ministry said. These kits included an advice booklet, a badge, an agenda to visualize the 30 days of quitting smoking, or a disk to calculate the savings thus made, according to its consumption.
The other tools put in place were also acclaimed: more than 72.000 smokers have registered on the application Tobacco Info Service, the number of visitors to the website tabac-info-service.fr has been multiplied by 4, with 1,3 million visits from mid-October to mid-November, and the Tobacco Info service phone line received more than 15.000 calls in October and November, an increase of 35% over the same period in 2015.
Despite this and even if the Ministry of Health seems to be satisfied with the result of this first edition, it remains complicated to be ecstatic in front of an initiative that has so little gathered smokers. To begin with, we are clearly entitled to wonder where some of the figures announced by Tabac Info Service come from because it remains difficult to make us believe that only " 839 doubts and crackings "Took place on 179 816 participants.
MANY QUESTS IN THE ORGANIZATION!
Between lack of availability of kits Me (s) without tobacco“, The eccentric tricks of the glass of water or the straw and the almost total absence of the e-cigarette during the initiative, we could not hope for a better result anyway. Contrary to Stoptober from the United Kingdom who did not hesitate to use the e-cigarette as a support, the “Tobacco-free Me” preferred to use it with a lot, if not too much sparing. However, it is not necessary to throw stones at the Ministry of Health and Tobacco Info Service because any initiative to help the population to end smoking is good to take but for the future, it would be important to highlight all the tools we currently have available with regard to risk reduction.
Source : Tobacco Info Service
