Could this be your first day of a life without tobacco?

To the editor:
    Are you thinking about quitting tobacco but not sure you are ready to take the plunge?
Maybe the Great American Smokeout is for you. It’s an opportunity to join with literally millions of other tobacco users in saying “no thanks” to cigarettes for 24 hours.
    The Great American Smokeout will take place this year on Thursday, Nov. 20th. The concept dates from the early ‘70s when Lynn Smith, publisher of the Monticello Times of Minnesota, announced the first observance and called it “D Day.” The idea caught on in state after state until in 1977, it went nationwide under the sponsorship of the American Cancer Society. If past Smokeouts are any indication, as many as one-third of the nation’s 46 million tobacco users could be taking the day off from tobacco.
    The rules are simple: You just quit tobacco for the 24 hours of the Smokeout. The wonderful thing is that you won’t be alone; you will be joining millions of other tobacco users quitting for just one day. Even if you don’t go on to quit permanently, you will have learned that you can quit for a day and that many others around you are taking the step too.
    An estimated 46 million adults in the United States currently use tobacco, and approximately half will die prematurely from tobacco use. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men and women and more than 80 percent of lung cancers are thought to result from using tobacco. Tobacco use causes one in five deaths from all causes.
    So consider taking that first step. If you can quit for 24 hours, maybe you can quit for 48 hours or even a lifetime. If you would like to talk to someone about quitting call the Maine Tobacco Helpline at 1-800-207-1230 or for more information and resources contact Healthy Aroostook, your local Healthy Maine Partnership, at 768-3056.
Carol Bell, project director
Healthy Aroostook