Editorial:

The Register-Herald
Beckley, W.Va.

To many, a national effort to encourage tobacco users to give up their habit is viewed as an infringement on personal rights. Perhaps, to some degree, it is.
However, when the American Cancer Society launched the Great American Smokeout, its intentions were based on mounds of clinical evidence detailing the pervasive damage smoking and other forms of tobacco use can bring.
Initially, the idea began in 1974 when Lynn R. Smith, editor of the Monticello Times in Minnesota, spearheaded the state’s first “D-Day,” or Don’t Smoke Day. Three years before that, a man named Arthur P. Mullaney of Randolph, Mass., urged people to give up cigarettes for a day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund.
The idea behind both efforts was to give people incentives to do something good for themselves, and in Mullaney’s case, to simultaneously do something good for others.
Clean air laws and smoking bans have become increasingly common across the United States. Now, major institutions, such as hospitals and federal prisons, are imposing such bans.
Those measures do help to protect nonsmokers from the effects of secondhand smoke, which has been proven to damage the lungs.
The smokeout, however, gives people an opportunity to have a starting point and set a goal.
Research done by the American Cancer Society shows that smokers are most successful in kicking the habit when they have some means of support, such as nicotine replacement products, counseling, prescription medicine to lessen cravings, guide books and the encouragement of friends and family members.
Despite that, only about one in seven smokers reports having tried any of those recommendations.
Chances are, if you smoke, you’ve thought about quitting. Maybe you don’t feel ready. Maybe you just don’t have the incentive. Today might be a pivotal opportunity for you. You may not be able to throw away the pack yet, but you can make a toll-free phone call to see what kinds of help are available to you. You can call 1-800-784-8669 or visit www.smokefree.gov.
Don’t wait until you are forced to quit. Take one small step that could lead you on a journey to a tobacco-free lifestyle. That’s a matter of personal choice you’ll never regret.