Quitline can help you quit smoking, chewing

To the Editor:

Dear Editor and Daily World Readers:

Quitting tobacco use is one of the hardest challenges a smoker or chewer will ever face. For those who are apprehensive about attending a series of cessation classes, there is an alternative: The Indiana Tobacco Quitline.

The Quitline, sponsored by Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation, is an easy and effective way for people to get smoking cessation help from their home or office. Calls to the Quitline (1-800-QUIT-NOW) are toll free, and counseling is confidential.

The Quitline offers a free two-week "starter kit" of nicotine replacement therapy, while supplies last, if callers enroll in counseling with a quit coach. Callers have the option of receiving patches or gum for their starter kit.

The number of callers has been growing because of the starter kit program. In January, the hotline received more than 1,600 calls from Indiana tobacco users seeking to break their addictions. This is an 86 percent increase in volume of calls over the same time last year. Ninety-six percent of those who called this past January enrolled in the counseling program.

If you want to quit using tobacco, please call the toll-free number today (1-800-784-8669) or contact Greene County Tobacco Prevention and Cessation for cessation counseling and class information (384-8769).

There's never been a better time to quit!

Nancy Cummings

Coordinator, Greene County Tobacco Prevention

and Cessation

Bloomfield