Tobacco-free services and recovery
As of July 24, 2008, all OASAS funded and certified chemical dependence and gambling addiction programs are required to establish tobacco-free addiction programming. The intent is to “reduce addiction, illness and death caused by tobacco products, to provide a healthy environment for staff, patients, volunteers and visitors and to establish tobacco-free services in a tobacco-free environment.”
Regulation Part 856 makes New York the first state in the nation to require all of its prevention, treatment and recovery programs to integrate tobacco services in a tobacco-free environment.
Change, Challenges, and the Addiction Professional
Regulation Part 856 challenges addiction professional to include tobacco prevention, treatment and recovery as essential elements in chemical dependence services. Regulation Part 856 calls for nothing short of culture change. Learning new information about tobacco and applying evidence-based practices, you can significantly improve the quality of addiction care and make an unprecedented contribution to the health and well-being of people in addiction treatment and recovery.
The Tobacco Recovery Resource Exchange provides training, technical assistance, and resources to empower the addictions workforce to fully engage in this culture change process and to adapt their work to meet the challenge of tobacco recovery.
Part 856: In a nutshell
Part 856 stipulates that as of July 24, 2008, OASAS funded and certified programs must have a written policy that:
- Defines the facility, grounds, and vehicles which are tobacco-free
- Prohibits patients, family members and other visitors from bringing tobacco products and paraphernalia to the service
- Requires all patients, staff, visitors, and volunteers to be informed of the tobacco-free policy including posted notices and provision of copies of the policy
- Prohibits staff from using tobacco products while at work, during work hours
- Establishes a tobacco-free policy for staff while they are on the site of the service
- Establishes treatment modalities for patients who use tobacco
- Describes training on tobacco use and nicotine dependence available to staff including clinical, non-clinical, administrative, and volunteers
- Describes tobacco and nicotine prevention and education programs made available by the service to patients, staff, volunteers, and others
- Establishes policies and procedures to address patients who relapse on tobacco.
- Addresses staff relapse consistent with the employment procedure of that facility.
