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For Immediate Release Monday, December 27, 2004
10 NEW YEAR’S TIPS ON HOW TO QUIT SMOKING
Contact: Cindy Parmenter
Director of Communications
(303) 692-2013 - Office
(303) 891-8382 – Pager
DENVER –The State Tobacco Prevention and Education Partnership
at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has 10 helpful tips
for the Colorado tobacco users who want to make quitting smoking their top New
Year’s resolution.
These tips include:
1. Call the Colorado Quitline at 1-800-639-QUIT (7848) to talk
to a counselor who will help you set a quit plan. Services available in English
and Spanish.
2. Visit Colorado Quitnet at
www.co.quitnet.com
to meet former smokers and people trying to quit as well as find information
about medications and the harmful effects of tobacco. Services available in
English and Spanish.
3. Enlist your family, friends and co-workers in your fight
against tobacco. Tell them you are trying to quit and need their positive
support.
4. Talk to your doctor, who can give you more information about
the harmful effects of tobacco and even prescribe medications that can help you
quit.
5. Envision yourself smoke-free and living a long, healthy life
with your family and friends.
6. Write your goals down on paper. Tape your goals on your
doors, mirrors, the refrigerator and in your car to remind you why you are
quitting and to help keep you motivated.
7. Throw away all your tobacco products including ashtrays,
items with tobacco logos, and lighters.
8. Go for a walk outside every day. Exercise will help lower
your stress, increase your endurance and can prevent the weight gain that often
occurs when people stop smoking.
9. Reward yourself for every day that you do not smoke. Buy a
favorite CD; rent a movie; have a massage; take a friend to lunch; and enjoy
your success in your attempts to quit smoking.
10. Understand that you might relapse, but that does not make
you a failure. Keep trying because quitting tobacco is a difficult process and
it may take you several serious attempts in order to succeed.
Karen DeLeeuw, director of the State Tobacco Education and
Prevention Partnership (STEPP), compiled the list, citing a survey in which 85
percent of the state’s smokers reported wanting to quit.
She also noted that a smoker can double his or her chances of
success by using services, such as the Colorado Quitline or QuitNet, which have
helped 37,000 Coloradoans through the tobacco quitting process since they began
operation in December 2002.
And this coming year, Coloradoans have an added incentive to
quit smoking - the financial costs. As a result of the adoption of Amendment 35
to the Colorado Constitution by the state’s voters on November 2, the tax on
each pack of cigarettes sold in the state will increase 64 cents effective
Saturday, January 1, 2005.
For an average pack-a-day smoker, this will add $235 to the price of smoking for
a year, bringing the total to $1,365, or $115 per month.
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