Tobacco harm reduction: How rational public policy could transform a pandemic

被引:48
作者
Sweanor, David
Alcabes, Philip [1 ]
Drucker, Ernest
机构
[1] CUNY Hunter Coll, Sch Hlth Sci, New York, NY 10021 USA
[2] Univ Ottawa, Fac Law & Med, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada
[3] Columbia Univ, Montefiore Med Ctr, Albert Einstein Coll Med, New York, NY USA
[4] Columbia Univ, Montefiore Med Ctr, Mailman Sch Publ Hlth, New York, NY USA
关键词
tobacco; nicotine; harm reduction; cigarette smoking; policy;
D O I
10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.11.013
中图分类号
R194 [卫生标准、卫生检查、医药管理];
学科分类号
摘要
Nicotine, at the dosage levels smokers seek, is a relatively innocuous drug commonly delivered by a highly harmful device, cigarette smoke. An intensifying pandemic of disease caused or exacerbated by smoking demands more effective policy responses than the current one: demanding that nicotine users abstain. A pragmatic response to the smoking problem is blocked by moralistic campaigns masquerading as public health, by divisions within the community of opponents to present policy, and by the public-health professions antipathy to any tobacco-control endeavours other than smoking cessation. Yet, numerous alternative systems for nicotine delivery exist, many of them far safer than smoking. A pragmatic, public-health approach to tobacco control would recognize a continuum of risk and encourage nicotine users to move themselves down the risk spectrum by choosing safer alternatives to smoking - without demanding abstinence. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:70 / 74
页数:5
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