Smokers can go to great lengths to shake their vice. But if City puffers find that hypnosis, meditation, or replacing cigarettes with malt liquor aren’t quite working out, they can try and get some free nicotine patches from the Health Department. This last week alone, the city handed out more than 16,000 patch kits to New Yorkers. Most patches went to residents of Brooklyn and the fewest went to those sequestered out on Staten Island. Sadly, the fewest requests for patches came from smokers aged 18-24 – the demographic likely to have the most successful chance of quitting. The program is part of a larger Health Department initiative to keep “the dangers of smoking fresh in smokers’ minds.” So, if you want to be able to show your patch off during the upcoming bathing suit season, call 311 to see if you’re eligible, and grab one of the 20,000 kits that are left. You must be at least 18 and live in the 5 boroughs. Go slap one on and kick the habit.

For more tips on quitting, check out the Department of Health's resource page.