According to British Medical Journal, research shows people addicted to opioids also smoke cigarettes at a rate of 84-98%. The new grant funding opportunity from the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) recognizes this relationship between tobacco and opiate use. DHS will be funding opioid and methamphetamine treatment centers across this state under a grant program, and therefore the application requires that these centers to “address nicotine use, and its cessation, along with opioid and/or methamphetamine recovery.”
The Wisconsin Nicotine Treatment Integration Project (WiNTiP), funded by DHS and led by UW-CTRI Researcher Dr. Bruce Christiansen and WiNTiP Managing Consultant David “Mac” Macmaster, has worked to foster systems change to incorporate tobacco treatment into standard care for behavioral-health patients at treatment facilities across the state. Studies show those who give up nicotine while in treatment for other addictions have a 25% better chance to break free from those addictions. For more information, visit www.HelpUsQuit.org.