New ads by QuitPlan claim "smoking is expensive, but QuitPlan is free.." Nothing could be further from the truth.
In reality 300 million taxpayers are funding QuitPlan programs in the form of Obama's "Stimulus Funds" ARRA.
Hennepin county alone received $156,407,326.56 in stimulus funds from the ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) to give "free" alternative tobacco products such as Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc. to smokers in hopes of getting them to quit their habit:
http://projects.propublica.org/recovery/locale/minnesota/hennepin/dept/7500
Further research finds that US taxpayer money goes directly back to the companies who benefited most from smoking ban legislation...companies like Glaxo Smith Kline who distributes Nicoderm:
http://projects.propublica.org/recovery/gov_entities/7500
And as a reminder, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded groups like American Lung Assoc., American Cancer Society, etc to lobby lawmakers for smoking ban legislation that would increase product sales (Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc) of their parent company Johnson & Johnson Co.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/06/nicoderm-manufacturer-alza-is.html
Meanwhile, smoking bans destroyed businesses & livelihoods across the nation.....prior to 2008:
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html