July 2012

Main Calendar

Declare Your Independence: Freedom from Nicotine Addiction

Commemorate this 4th of July by declaring freedom from nicotine addiction, or encourage the smokers in your life to declare their freedom from cigarettes.

Cigarettes Are Designed for Addiction

The design and contents of tobacco products make them addictive. They deliver more nicotine and deliver it quicker than ever before. Filtered and low-tar cigarettes are every bit as addictive and are no safer than other cigarettes. Nicotine is the highly addictive drug in cigarettes that keeps people smoking even when they want to quit. Like heroin or cocaine, nicotine changes the way the brain works and causes smokers to crave more and more nicotine. Many teens who try cigarettes don’t know how easy it is to become addicted. In fact, most smokers became addicted as teenagers.

Odds Are in Your Favor: Don't Give Up

Breaking nicotine addiction is harder for some people than others. Despite this challenge, more than half of all adults who ever smoked have succeeded in quitting. If you are trying to quit or considering it, keep with it! It may take several attempts before you successfully beat the addiction. Don’t give up!

Plenty of Reasons to Quit Today

Breaking free from nicotine dependence is not the only reason to quit smoking. Smoking cessation can improve your health by lowering your heart rate; reducing carbon monoxide levels in the blood to normal; lowering the risk for lung and other types of cancer; reducing the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease; reducing respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath; and lowering the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Your health will improve, and that’s good news for you and your loved ones.

You're Not Alone: Resources Are Available to Help You Quit for Good

Different treatments work for different people. The most important thing is to try, try, and try again until you succeed! You can find an effective way to quit. Some ways to quit have been found to increase the chances of success.

• Quitting "cold turkey": This is still the most common way people quit. You can succeed “just doing it,” but you may have more withdrawal challenges. If you do go "cold turkey," be sure and get rid of all your cigarettes, and if you are having trouble or want to increase your chances of success, don't hesitate to get help from the ways listed below.
• Brief clinical interventions: When a doctor takes 10 minutes or so to talk to smokers and give advice about quitting
• Counseling: When a smoker participates in individual, group, or telephone counseling
• Treatments with more person-to-person contact and intensity: When smokers spend more time with counselors
• Nicotine replacement therapies: When smokers use over-the-counter or prescription nicotine replacement products such as nicotine gum, inhalers, nasal sprays, lozenges, or patches
• Non-nicotine prescription medications: When smokers are prescribed non-nicotine medications such as bupropion SR (Zyban®) or varenicline tartrate (Chantix®)
• Combination treatment: When a smoker uses a combination of medication and counseling (which has been found to be more effective for smoking cessation than either medication or counseling alone)

Smokers can receive free resources and assistance, if needed, by calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) or by visiting smokefree.gov.

Resources for Tobacco Prevention and Control

The following products and resources are available to help encourage smokers to quit now.

• eCard
  Declare Your Independence
  This ecard encourages smokers to declare their independence from nicotine addiction.
• Button
  Freedom From Nicotine Addiction
  States and partners can upload this button (available in various sizes) to their Web sites to help promote the Independence Day cessation message and to link users to related content on this Web site.