Cigarette-makers should pay for a $130 billion program of counseling and free medication for smokers who want to quit, an addiction expert testified yesterday in the trial of the government’s racketeering suit against U.S. tobacco companies.
Professor Michael C. Fiore, an expert in treating nicotine addiction who teaches at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, said that the plan would cost $5.2 billion a year for 25 years and would be open to all 47 million smokers in the United States.