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WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 2000 – Quitting smoking can be an uphill battle. "Some people can quit cold turkey, and others can't," said Dr. John Mazzuchi, deputy for clinical and program policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. "Some people need nicotine-replacement therapy and behavior counseling." In a recent message to all Defense Department employees, Secretary of Defense William Cohen called avoidance of all tobacco products an imperative. "Make the personal choice to be as fit and healthy as possible," he wrote. Help is available online from any number of sources. You just have to know where to look. - American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org. This site is full of sobering statistics about what smoking does to your health and a list of the different types of cancers that can be caused by smoking -- nothing like scare tactics to encourage quitting. But it's also full of strategies for quitting and tips for not picking the habit up again after you've quit.
- American Lung Association, www.lungusa.org/tobacco. This site features a smoking-cessation action plan and fact sheets on smoking-cessation resources and nicotine- replacement therapies. It also has a link called "Seven Steps to a Smoke-Free Life".
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/tobacco/news.htm. This site is packed with stats and facts about the evils of smoking and recent smoking-cessation guidelines released by the U.S. Public Health Service.
- Office of the Surgeon General of the Army, www.armymedicine.army.mil/armymed/default2.htm. A site search reveals several articles on the benefits of quitting and what the Army is doing to encourage soldiers to stop smoking.
This list is not all-inclusive. There are countless sites out there relating to the dangers of smoking. One can get lost in cyberspace for hours just by following links off the four sites above. Happy Web surfing, and good luck quitting.
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