WABASH COUNTY, IN- For more than 40 years, the American Cancer Society has hosted the Great American Smokeout on the third Thursday of November. This year that is November 17. The Great American Smokeout is an opportunity for people who smoke to commit to healthy, smoke-free lives – not just for a day, but year-round. The Great American Smokeout provides an opportunity for individuals, community groups, businesses, health care providers, and others to encourage people to use the date to make a plan to quit, or plan in advance and initiate a smoking cessation plan on the day of the event. The Great American Smokeout event challenges people to stop smoking and helps people learn about the many tools they can use to help them quit and stay quit.
About 34 million American adults still smoke cigarettes, and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world. Smoking causes an estimated 480,000 deaths every year, or about 1 in 5 deaths.
While the rates of cigarette smoking have declined over the past several decades, from 42% in 1965 to 14% in 2019, the gains have been inconsistent. Some groups smoke more heavily or at higher rates and suffer disproportionately from smoking-related cancer and other diseases. These populations tend to be those who experience inequities in multiple areas of their lives, including those at lower socioeconomic levels, those without college degrees, American Indians/Alaska natives, African American/Black communities, LGBTQ communities, those in the military, those with behavioral health conditions, and others.
No matter your age or how long you’ve been smoking, quitting improves health both immediately and over the long term. Giving up smoking is a journey, and it can be hard, but you can increase your chances of success with a good plan and support. Getting help through counseling and medications doubles or even triples your chances of quitting successfully.
Addiction to nicotine in tobacco and the e-cigarette is one of the strongest and most deadly addictions one can have. Quitting is hard for many people. It takes commitment and starts with a plan, often takes more than one quit attempt, and requires a lot of support. Often, the younger you were when you started to smoke, the more intense the addiction.
Quitting smoking is not easy, but you can do it. To have the best chance of quitting and remaining smoke-free, you need to know what you’re up against, what your options are, and where to go for help.
Quitting smoking is a process, and success may look different for different people. There are many ways to quit smoking, and some work better than others. All you have to do is call the Indiana Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW. Or contact the Wabash County Tobacco Free Coalition for personal help or information to help you with your quit goal, 260-274-2920, tobaccofreewabash@hotmail.com. You can find the steps you need to take to quit smoking and receive help to find quit-smoking programs, resources, and support that can increase your chances of quitting successfully.