Inmates Using Nicotine Lozenges As Currency

In New Zealand, prisons were made smoke-free in 2011, and nicotine-replacement-therapy lozenges are now offered to inmates with nicotine addictions. But these nicotine-replacement-therapy lozenges had become a type of currency, or bartering tool, in the highly controlled women's prison environment.

The female prisoners who were non-smokers were being issued the lozenges, which were creating health and addiction, as well as dental issues. A recent report indicated that most of these women prisoners continued to use the lozenges even after their release from prison, which created ongoing dependency. The lozenges have become a huge bartering tool with new entrants to the prison being bullied by other women to feed their lozenge habit, or as a source of currency to gain other supplies.