John Willoughby: Greene Publishing, Inc.
Nearly 38 million Americans still smoke cigarettes and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illnesses worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). More than 480,000 deaths every year are caused by smoking and more than 16 million Americans live with a smoking-related disease.
Hosted by the ACS, the Great American Smokeout is an annual event, observed on the third Thursday of November, for smokers to take the opportunity to commit to healthy, smoke-free lives. The Great American Smokeout began in the 1970s when Arthur P. Mullaney asked people to give up smoking for a day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a high school scholarship fund. The idea was taken up by the California Division of the ACS on Nov. 18, 1976, when nearly one million smokers quit for one day. The ACS then took the event nationwide in 1977.
According to the ACS, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, accounting for 29 percent of all cancer deaths, but thanks to the great strides in changing attitudes about smoking, understanding nicotine addiction and learning how to help people quit, many people have chosen to lead advocacy groups in an effort to help make landmarks in research and policy. In 1983, San Francisco, Calif. passed the first strong workplace smoking restrictions, eliminating smoking in private workplaces. The Master Settlement Agreement was passed in 1999, requiring tobacco companies to pay $206 billion to 45 states by the year 2025 to cover Medicaid costs of treating smokers.
On the day of the Great American Smokeout, commit to living a healthy life, without the nicotine that can so easily entrap anyone. For more information, log onto cancer.org. For tips on how to quit, log onto tobaccofreeflorida.com.