Though more than half of all New York CIty smokers tried to quit smoking in the past year, 80% of them (about half a million people) lit up again within three months. While the average smoker tries to quit about 8-9 times before actually succeeding, nicotine replacement therapy has been shown to double one's chances.
To help, the Department of Health has been giving away free nicotine patches and gum since last week, already having given away over 5,000 patches and 700 packs of gum. If you're one of the 80% of City smokers who want to quit, you're encouraged to call 311 to get a supply of your own (hurry! the offer ends on May 15th). Along with the Ronaldo Martinez campaign, the free nicotine offer is part of the health department's "two-pronged" approach to help motivated New Yorkers quit.
A Health Department survey of 2,400 attempted quitters found a stressful situation as the top cause for relapse. Other reasons given included alcohol use, driving, the end of pregnancy and the smell of cigarette smoke (we would have thought the opposite about this last one). As the top preventable cause of death in NYC, cigarettes will kill 25 New Yorkers today and will send 100 City kids to their doctors today to deal with the sequelae of second hand smoke. Read on for the Health Department's tips to make quitting easier.
