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NICOTINE gum and patches could soon be available in pubs, newsagents and supermarkets. This month the Medicines Control Agency is expected to end the rule that they can be sold only by pharmacies, after an appeal by the manufacturers of Nicorette gum and patches.
Because nicotine replacement products can be sold only by pharmacists, smokers who are trying to give up often revert to cigarettes, which are much more readily available. The products administer a dose of nicotine without the carcinogenic tar of cigarettes.
Martin Jarvis, of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, said: "It's absurd that you can buy cigarettes at any time of day or night, but, with pharmaceutical products, it's much more difficult to get access."
The change is part of a review of government policy on smoking which includes proposals to make pubs install powerful extractor fans to cut passive smoking.
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