Posts Tagged ‘quitting smoking’

New Year’s Resolutions & Public Health

December 31st, 2010

Our Tobacco Prevention Program will be hitting targeted audiences (lower income Arizonans) a few days before New Years and during January with smoking cessation messages. There’s no better time to motivate folks to quit smoking than January because that’s the time of year when people generally set health goals for themselves.  The ads (funded by a dedicated and voter protected tobacco tax) are designed to give people tools to increase their chances of success.  There’s no easy way out once you are addicted to nicotine, but there are nicotine replacement therapies like the patch, gum, and lozenge; and there are medications such as Zyban® and Chantix® that can help.  You can read more about cessation strategies and resources on our ASHline.

Thanks to ADHS staff  and all of our partners in the community and other government agencies for their hard work this year.  We have a lot to be proud of… and have a great Holiday…

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Arizona Breaking Through the National Smoking Trend

September 10th, 2010

A new report from the CDC this week showed that the smoking rate across the US has stayed flat at about 20% over the last 5 years.  Not so in Arizona, where we’ve decreased from 20% in 2005 to 16% in 2009, according to our latest BRFS report.   As is the case across the country, the folks in Arizona that make the least amount of money are the most likely to smoke, which is why we’ve focused our tobacco prevention and cessation (quitting) efforts on that demographic- with aggressive targeted marketing, quitline services (including quit coaches) and by paying AHCCCS (using our voter-protected tobacco control funds) to cover medicine to help people succeed.  We also think that our youth prevention campaign and the implementation of the Smoke Free Arizona Act in 2007 are factors that have helped us buck the national trend.

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ASHLine Ringing off the Hook

June 21st, 2010

Our new advertising campaign that encourages people to call our Arizona Smokers’ Helpline is going great.  The ads  continue to bring in unprecedented call volumes to the ASHLine.  Since the commercials began airing less than a month ago, we’ve gotten more than 8,100 calls- which is more than the ASHLine receives typically in a five-month period.  Overall, calls are up more than 900% from the same time period last year.  Quit coaches report that callers are engaging in the quit process and most are saying it’s the bad economy/cost of the habit that is getting them to take action to call now. If you, or someone you know is ready to quit they should call the ASHLine at 1-800-55-66-222 or visit www.ASHLine.org.

Today is also the first anniversary of the Tobacco Control Act.  The Act gives the FDA stronger powers to keep tobacco out of the hands of children.  FDA is trying to prevent kids from being the next generation of Americans to die early from tobacco use.  It also is working to reduce death and disease associated with tobacco use for all ages.  Find out more at the FDA.

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Posted in Prevention

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