Smoking is a major contributor to the early deaths of our clients.
- 200,000 of the 435,000 annual deaths from smoking in the US are among people with Mental Health (MH) and Chemical Dependency (CD) disorders
- People with MH/CD disorders are 7.1% of the population, consume 34.2% of cigarettes, are 44.3% of the US tobacco market
- More than half of people treated for CD die from tobacco-caused illnesses
- The 25 year loss in average length of life for those treated in public MH systems is strongly related to diseases linked to smoking
We in the treatment system need to re-examine our belief that our clients cannot or will not quit, and look at how we can provide the support to help them do so.
The people we serve deserve the specialized health care assessment and treatment in regard to the use of nicotine that will achieve the health care outcomes we expect for the general population.
THIS IS A HEALTH CARE JUSTICE ISSUE
In the summer of 2008, MVBCN’s Council and Integration Group began exploring what it will take to implement a change process that addresses the cultures of our agencies. We hope to provide state-of-the-art tobacco cessation support for consumers who wish to pursue wellness and an improved level of health as part of their recovery. The materials below have been helpful in our early learning and we expect to add more as we learn together how to address this challenge.
RESOURCES
Websites:
Downloads: See below
NOTE: Files are in Word format where indicated; disregard the Adobe PDF icon. Some files are fairly large; be patient while downloading.
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