If you live in Colorado and want to quit smoking...free patches

They mail them to you for FREE!! You have to do a couple of sessions of counseling on the phone, but that really helps with the quit.
http://www.dath.org/

on edit:the tax on cigarettes is paying for all of this

You could knock me over with a feather...I might be speaking a bit prematurely here (I mean, we ARE talking about Colorado, y'know) but they're actually gonna put their money where their mouth is?

I'll be damned.

I'm gonna call 'em tomorrow. We'll see...

I forgot to call 'em today.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow for sure, even if I have to put a sticky note on my forehead to remind me.

And by "other states," I of course mean Kollyforniya.

I'd be all over it.

I buy patches periodically for situations that make smoking difficult. Their cost precludes me from using them regularly.

I wish the free patch program was nationwide. It should be.

Instead of just saying, "No more smoking here, now deal with it!", they are actually offering help to people to quit smoking. They just banned smoking in all public buildings, including bars and restaurants, here in Seattle. Fine. But why don't they also do what Colorado is doing? So many people who want to ban smoking, who would like to have it where no one smokes, forget the other half of the equation -- providing assistance and support to people who do want to quit? I think it's because many of the people who promote no-smoking bans have never smoked, and have no clue how difficult it is. I'm not saying that it is everyone else's responsibility, and the smoker him or herself don't have the primary responsibility in quitting. But I am saying that assistance and support would go a long way. Believe me, I am struggling with it myself right now. I've cut down to almost no smoking, but damn it all, it's hard to be smoke-free. (And I do want to say kudos to those of you who have recently quit and are doing well so far.)

Before, when the Republicans controlled 100% of the state we got genius ideas like mandatory counseling for a year before people could get divorced (that at least never passed)and the TABOR bill which stifled the state budget. Today, we have alternative energy spending and investment credits, mandatory increases in education spending to keep pace with inflation, TABOR is weakening, and lo and behold:

A program to direct state cigarette tax revenue into free patches for quitters. What a novel idea!

Thanks, liberals!

(To be specific, a lot of the new liberal initiatives are the result of referenda and ballot initiatives, but they're still good evidence of the leftward swing Colorado is making.)