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Florida Quitline Offering Stop-Smoking Help

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SUNCOAST NEWS STAFF REPORT

Published: December 31, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Smokers making a New Year's resolution to quit can get help from Tobacco Free Florida.

Free counseling and nicotine replacement therapies are available through the Florida Quitline, according to the office of Florida's surgeon general, Dr. Ana M. Viamonte Ros. More than 28,000 Floridians die from smoking each year.

Callers to the toll-free Quitline at 1-877-U-CAN-NOW who enroll in counseling are able to choose from patches, gum and lozenges - a combination that doubles the chances a smoker will quit.

Bilingual counselors, who are specially trained in tobacco cessation, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"The Quitline has received more than 40,000 calls over the past 12 months, compared to just 4,000 the previous year," Kim Berfield, deputy secretary of the Florida Department of Health, said in a press release. More than eight out of 10 callers choose counseling.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• People who try to smoke fewer cigarettes soon wind up smoking the same amount again. Smoking "low-tar, low-nicotine" cigarettes usually does little good, either. The only safe choice is to completely quit.

• Write down reasons to quit, such as control of your life, better health, or setting a good example for children.

• Nearly all smokers have some feelings of nicotine withdrawal when they try to quit. Take it one day at a time or even one minute at a time.

For more information on Tobacco Free Florida, go online to www.tobaccofreeflorida.com. Or call the toll-free Florida Quitline at 1-877-U-CAN-NOW.

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