Tobacco Cessation

This page could help you or a loved one quit smoking or using tobacco products, by using the valuable resources provided below. Even though tobacco use has gone down over the years, it is still a major public health issue that is causing 100% preventable adverse health effects.

Information & Resources to Help You QuitLocal Coalition

• As early as the 1930s, health practitioners were wary of the effects of tobacco, and in 1944 the American Cancer Society began to issue warnings to smokers. Researchers began to investigate the long-term health implications of smoking, though it would be some time before a definitive link was proven.  Learn more about the history of smoking in the U.S., its health risks and the case for quitting at www.publichealth.org/public-awareness/smoking-in-america. The PA Department of Health provides tobacco resources on their Tobacco Prevention and Control Division website.  It aims to prevent tobacco use among youth, promote smoking cessation among youth and adults, protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure and eliminate tobacco-related health disparities.  Pennsylvania has set out to implement the first statewide comprehensive tobacco us prevention program. Visit their website for more information.

Local Coalition

• Tobacco-Free York County

Resources

• Tips From Former Smokers
  Smoking doesn't just affect the smoker; it usually has much wider implications.  Tips from Former Smokers tells the true stories of how smoking and secondhand smoke have affected the lives of its participants.

• HelpGuide.org
  A trusted non-profit guide to mental health and well-being. The HelpGuide explores quit strategies and provides a detailed understanding of what drives addiction and makes quitting tobacco so difficult.

• Tobacco Free Life
  Information and tips on how to get started, make a plan, and stay tobacco-free

Quit Resources for Women

• Smokefree Women
  Smokefree women has tips, articles, quizzes and programs designed specifically for women.
  Visit women.smokefree.gov for more information.

Quit Resources for Teens

• teen.smokefree.gov
  When you were younger, the adults in your life most of it made your decisions for you. But that's changed. You make your decisions most of it now. You're in Control of the direction your life Takes. This site is designed and run by people at the National Cancer Institute Who Want You To Take Control of Your Health. The site is designed to help you understand the decisions you make-especially the decision to quit smoking-and how those decisions fit into your life.

• SmokefreeTXT
  A mobile service designed for young adults across the United States. SmokefreeTXT was created to Provide 24/7 encouragement, advice, and tips to help smokers stop smoking for good. There are 2 ways to sign up: 
  1. Text the word QUIT to 47848 from your mobile phone, answer a few questions, and you'll start receiving messages. 
  2. Visit smokefree.gov/smokefreetxt/Signup.aspx to sign up and answer a few questions, and you'll start receiving text messages.

• Smokefree TXT en Español
  Es un servicio que provee mensajes de texto a través del celular o móvil diseñado para personas de los Estados Unidos. SmokefreeTXT fue creado para proveer apoyo, consejos e ideas 24 horas al día/ los 7 días de la semana con el objetivo de ayudar a fumadores a dejar de fumar de una vez por todas. Hay 2 maneras de registrarse a SmokefreeTXT:
  1. Envíe la palabra LIBRE al número 47848 a través de su celular o móvil, conteste algunas preguntas y empezara a recibir mensajes de texto gratuitos. 
  2. Visite espanol.smokefree.gov/smokefreetxt-espanol, conteste algunas preguntas y usted empezará a recibir mensajes de texto gratuitos en su celular o móvil.

Quit Resources for Military Personnel

• Quit Tobacco - Make Everyone Proud
  An educational campaign for the U.S. military, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. Launched in February of 2007, the mission of the campaign Web site is to help U.S. service members and Veterans enrolled for care in the VA health care system quit tobacco—for themselves and for the people they love.    

Resources for the Tobacco Industry's Target Populations

• Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights
  As the smokefree movement continues to gain momentum and more communities are going 100% smokefree indoors, different populations across the country are rising up and joining together, declaring to the tobacco companies "Enough is enough! Stop targeting us!" African Americans, Latinos, faith communities, youth groups, and American Indians, not to mention labor unions and LGBT, to name a few, can all be powerful allies in smokefree campaigns. The key is to respect everyone's ideas and input, to engage all populations early and often in campaign planning, and to be flexible. The more your smokefree coalition represents all the faces of your community, the stronger and more successful it will be at protecting all persons from secondhand smoke exposure.

Quit Resources for Anyone

• Tobacco-Free York County
  Mission: To protect the public health of York County by partnering with community members to advocate, promote, and educate on the benefits and resources to achieve tobacco-free living.

• The American Lung Association
  Working to strengthen laws and policies that protect everyone from secondhand smoke and prevent young people from starting. They are also committed to helping smokers quit with smoking cessation programs.

• Smokefree
  Intended to help you or someone you care about quit smoking.

• Smokefree Español
  Espanol.smokefree.gov tiene como objetivo ayudar a las personas que quieren dejar el cigarrillo.

• American Cancer Society
  Quitting tobacco is not easy, but it can be done. Whether you're a smoker, someone who uses smokeless tobacco, or just someone trying to help a friend or loved one, you'll find information you can use on this page.

• Kill the Can
  When you’ve made the decision to quit dipping you need support. You’ll get it at KillTheCan! This site is dedicated to helping people QUIT dip, smokeless & chewing tobacco! All articles on KillTheCan.org are written by forum members. These are people who understand what it means to quit.

Information About Addictions

• DrugRehab.com
  While perhaps not as glamorous as they once were, cigarettes remain an everyday staple for millions worldwide, along with other forms of tobacco like cigars and hookah. The side effects don’t reveal themselves up front, like with many drugs, but sneak up on habitual users in the form of cancer and other serious maladies. Get information to help understand addiction in tobacco and many other substances in order to overcome it.

• Addiction Center - Guiding You From Rehab to Recovery
  Giving up tobacco isn’t easy, but it is more possible than most people realize. There is a plethora of support and resources available to help you get over your addiction.

Links to pages exploring a variety of tobacco issues:

• The Truth
  Truth focuses on spreading awareness and inspiring action in the fight to end smoking. 
• EX
  a new way to think about quitting smoking
• My Legacy Story
  We speak, seek and spread the truth about tobacco through education, tobacco-control research and policy studies, community activism and engagement, and innovation in tobacco dependence treatment.
• The Dr. OZ Show
  1 Minute to Better Health 
• Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
  For more than 20 years, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids has fought to protect children and save lives from the #1 cause of preventable death: tobacco use. Our vision is a future free of the death and disease caused by tobacco.
• Be Tobacco Free
  Quit now: Smoking harms every organ in your body. Get the tools you need to quit and live a longer, healthier life.
   

Websites that offer online quit programs, resources, and support

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  Tips from Former Smokers
• Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades
  Consejos de Exfumadores
• Become An Ex
  Quitting tobacco means taking control of your life and making the change you want to make. We're with you all the way.
• Determined to Quit
  PA Dept of Health site: Includes FREE Quitline: 1-800-784-8669 (1-800-QUIT-NOW)
• Quit.com
  Every year, over one million Americans quit smoking, and maybe this year you’ve decided to one of them. The journey may be tough at first, so here are answers to some common questions that people who quit often have. 

Contact Us

• Contact the tobacco cessation educator near you
• Join our tobacco cessation support group on Facebook!
• Join our tobacco cessation support group on Facebook for Moms and Moms-to-be!