The American Cancer Society's Great American Smokeout is to take place on November 19th and many people will be throwing away their cigarettes in honor of the situation.
Jason Halford, 29 is going to be taking part in this action. He has been smoking for nine years and has tried to quit twice. He claims that he started smoking again both times because of stress related to lack of money and his job. The rising costs of cigarettes have not done anything to keep him from smoking. Halford said, "I buy cheap brands and look for dollar-off specials."
Many think that the price of cigarettes has an influence on smokers, but this is proving to be untrue.
According to Dr. Bruce Christiansen of the University of Wisconsin's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (CTRI) in Milwaukee's poorest neighborhoods, nearly half of the adults smoke, regardless of the fact that cigarettes cost $9 a pack, this means that one household can end up spending $15,000 a year on this habit.
The smoking rate has dropped, but only in certain layers of society, and the poorest are paying for smoking reforms…
[Via: suburbanchicagonews.com]
Research has shown that smokers wanting to quit have found the best success rates using patches and lozenges, along with a bit of counseling.
Lozenges which deliver small doses of nicotine, along with the help of patches, and the assistance of a mental health professional, show great results for quitting for a day, a week and even for six months.
Megan E. Piper of the University of Wisconsin's Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention led the research project documenting the short and long term success of smokers receiving counseling sessions and this type of treatment in the long and the short term. The treatment included nicotine lozenges, an antidepressant, a placebo, and a combination of patches and lozenges, Piper and her colleagues concluded, "Only the nicotine patch plus lozenge produced a significantly higher abstinence rates at six-month post quit than did placebo."
All of the treatments had some kind of positive effect to an extent, but this was mostly due to the counseling.
So if you are a smoker and ready quit, consider this option and of course the counseling to help you along the way.
[Via: examiner.com]
Professors at Widener University School of Law will be taking on new role, smoking police, at the start of the new academic year.
They will not undergo extensive training and they will not be wearing uniforms, but they will be carrying cards that give extensive details on the new smoking ban that will be implemented. The ban prohibits any kind of tobacco product or its use on campus, both indoors and outdoors. The school's dean Linda L. Ammons says that if this kind of intervention is not enough to stop students from smoking then they could face a fine.
Widener is not the first law school to toughen up on smoking — bans like this are becoming a growing trend. Smoking is mainly banned indoors and at the perimeter of buildings, but many law schools are working toward having campus-wide bans. In the United States, nearly 176 colleges and universities are entirely smoke-free, according to the American Lung Association.
The director of communications at the University of Arkansas (where smoking has also been banned) Andy Albertson, says that the law has had a positive impact, and that it is very rare to see smoking anymore. He added that there has been very little need for enforcement of the ban.
But, just because you do not see it does not mean it is not happening. University students are adults, they should be given freedom to make their own choices, and they should not be treated like criminals for a bad habit.
[Via: law.com]
New research shows that taking only a few puffs from a cigarette start doing damage to a young people who are otherwise healthy.
Researcher Stella Daskalopoulou, MD, of the McGill University Health Center, says that the damage escalates as time passes, and isn't possible to reverse it.
Smokers aged 18-30 were tested, they smoked a cigarette after doing a treadmill exercise, and it was found that the arteries of an individual would stiffen by nearly 25%. Stiffness of the arteries forces the heart to work harder, and this is why smokers have an increased risk of having heart disease or stroke.
In a news release, Daskalopoulou said, "Our results are significant because they suggest that smoking just a few cigarettes a day impacts the health of the arteries, This was revealed very clearly when these young people were placed under physical stress, such as exercise."
What? Well yes - you shouldn't smoke after an exercise, that's a known fact and no research is needed to prove that…
[Via: WebMD]
As of yet, the sidewalks adjacent to the University of Kentucky have not fallen under the smoking ban that is soon to be implemented by the university.
However, the assistant vice president for campus services, Anthony Beatty, has asked the Urban County Council to allow enforcement of the smoking ban on the sidewalks.
There has been some discussion on changing the memorandum of understanding and the main question of concern has been how the legislation would be enforced.
While others like Councilwoman Diane Lawless, who lives in the neighborhood near the university, worried that smokers would walk across the street to light up, bringing smoking closer to her front door.
Currently the resolution is on hold, and it seems that it will stay that way for some time. But who would smokers be hurting by smoking on the sidewalks near their school? University is not high school, it's not like the few smokers will be peer-pressuring classmates into smoking or something of the like. This is pure stupid…
[Via: kentucky.com]
