Since last May and the strengthening of the reimbursement of nicotine substitutes, sales have exploded, according to information from France Info. On average, 300 000 English buy these products each month in an attempt to quit smoking.
300 000 ENGLISH ENJOY NICOTINIC SUBSTITUTES EVERY MONTH!
Patches, chewing gums, lozenges to suck: sales of nicotine substitutes have increased considerably in recent months, according to information from France Info. Since last September, on average, more than 300 French people buy these products each month to try to stop smoking, revealed the radio this Thursday, November 000.
« It's a record, we've never had so many people benefiting from a stop-assist treatment », highlighted Aurélie Lermennier-Jeannet, Observatory of Drugs and Drug Addiction. This phenomenon is mainly explained by the reinforcement of the reimbursement of these substitutes since a few months. The government's goal is to encourage the French to stop smoking.
Previously, a smoker could claim 150 euros reimbursement per year for nicotine substitutes. Since last May, this ceiling has been removed and smokers also benefit from third-party payment and therefore do not have to advance the money.
A SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PRESCRIPTIONS 
The number of prescriptions dispensed by doctors has exploded compared to last year, with an increase of 66%. Today, nearly 40% of patches or chewing gums on the market are reimbursed by Social Security. But all will be as of January 1, specifies France Info.
France has about 16 millions of smokers. More than half of regular smokers (58%), men or women, say they want to quit smoking. It is considered that between 400 000 and 500 000 regular smokers stop smoking for at least one year each year in our country. The government hopes to further improve these figures with the pack of cigarettes at 10 euros and the full refund of nicotine substitutes.
