In Scotland, smokers in deprived areas struggle to quit

In Scotland, smokers in deprived areas struggle to quit: the number of smokers in deprived areas has not changed, with 41 per cent of the population still hooked. LISTEN
Source: The Scotsman

Smokers in deprived areas struggle to quit - The Scotsman

June 7, 2007

LOUISE GRAY
SCOTTISH POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT ([email protected])

TENS of thousands of Scots have given up cigarettes since the smoking ban was introduced last year but the new legislation has had little impact on those living in deprived areas.

The Scottish Household Survey 2006 shows the number of smokers in affluent areas fell two percentage points during 2006, when the ban came in, to 12 per cent. However the number of smokers in deprived areas has not changed, with 41 per cent of the population still hooked.

Doctors said the public awareness campaign and boost in cessation services which accompanied the March 2006 ban had more effect in middle-class areas and called for extra funding to help people on low incomes stop smoking.

Overall, fewer adults are smoking, down from 26 per cent of the population to 25 per cent.

However, women in the 16 to 24-year-old and 35 to 44-year-old age group are smoking slightly more as the habit is seen as a fashion statement.

The annual survey of 15,618 households for the Scottish Executive, revealed a continuing disparity between rich and poor, with just 41 per cent of people in deprived areas describing their health as good, compared to 64 per cent in the richest.

Maureen Moore, chief executive of the anti-smoking pressure group ASH Scotland, said cessation services - which came in before the ban - generally have more effect in the least deprived areas where people have better access to health care and media campaigns.

She said: "The heavy smokers in deprived areas we have not been successful in stopping because we need much more money for cessation services and different ways of bringing people into cessation services, not just in health. For instance at debt counselling, and sexual health counselling.

"The reach of the current cessation services do not go far enough. We need to change that."

Ms Moore also called for further measures to stop young people smoking by ending over-the-counter sales and tobacco advertising in corner shops.

She said young girls in particular need to be targeted as they are under pressure to smoke as a fashion statement.

"Boys are going into sport which acts as a deterrent. But girls are more affected by body image, peer pressure and role models. You see Kate Moss smoking all the time. It is still perceived as glamorous. It is depressing, but it is."

A spokesman for Forest, the smokers' campaign group, said: "Smoking bans do not encourage people on low incomes to give up smoking."

The Scottish government is tackling smoking on a number of fronts, including raising the age at which people are allowed to buy cigarettes to 18...

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