The American Cancer Society is marking the 37th Great American Smokeout on Nov. 15 by encouraging smokers to use the date to make a plan to quit, or to plan in advance and quit smoking that day.

Stopping smoking now can lead to reducing cancer risk.

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the US, yet more than 45 million Americans still smoke cigarettes.

However, more than half of these smokers have attempted to quit for at least one day in the past year. As of 2010, there were also 13.2 million cigar smokers in the US, and 2.2 million who smoke tobacco in pipes.

Quitting is hard, but you can increase your chances of success with help.

The American Cancer Society can tell you about the steps you can take to quit smoking and provide anti-smoking programs, resources, and support that can increase your chances of quitting successfully. To learn about the available tools, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or go to www.cancer.org.

Other resources that can help you quit include the Ohio Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-Quit Now (1-800-784-8669) which is free for uninsured, Medicaid fee-for-service clients, and pregnant women.

Two free, interactive websites that provide quitting resources and information and can help tobacco users establish a quit plan are:

• Smokefree.gov a website sponsored by the US Department of Health and Human Services, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health that can help you establish a quit plan. Go to http://www.smokefree.gov/.

• The Ex Plan is an interactive website that shows smokers how to re-learn life without cigarettes. The site, developed by Legacy in partnership with Mayo Clinic, offers a free, personalized quit plan and an online support community to help people prepare to quit and stay quit. Go to http://www.becomeanex.org/.

You can also get information at the Lawrence County Health Department.

By quitting tobacco sooner rather than later, smokers will be taking an important step towards a healthier life.

 

Maxine Lewis is the Tobacco Prevention Coordinator at the Lawrence County Health Department. She can be reached at (740) 532-3962 or Maxine.lewis@odh.ohio.gov.