Deadly addiction beats bids to quit

By KATHERINE HOBY and REUTERS

Most smokers who want to quit cannot do it on the first try, say New Zealand and American experts.

A poll just released in Washington shows most smokers are aware of the hazards of smoking.

The Harris poll of 1011 Americans found that almost every one believes that smoking increases their risk of lung cancer (88 per cent) and of heart disease (84 per cent), and that it will probably shorten their lives (80 per cent).

Eighty per cent of the respondents said they tried to stop smoking, but could not.

On average, people who were still smoking said they had tried to stop and failed as many as eight times.

Humphrey Taylor, chairman of the Harris Poll, said: "These survey data leave little room to doubt that the power of nicotine addiction is the main reason smoking has not declined any faster, even though most smokers would like to, and try to, give it up."

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

New Zealand Quitline manager Jane Mills said the figures were not surprising.

"There are many people who really want to quit but this is a real physical addiction," she said.

"It's not easy, it's a real battle, in fact."

She knew of smokers who had returned to Quitline for support more than once, after being unable to give up.

"We do have people coming back again and again," she said.

"It is not necessarily a bad thing as people use different methods to give up and some are at different stages of life before they can succeed at quitting."

Because of the glut of material promoting the health risks of smoking, very few were unaware of the problems to which they were exposing themselves.

But Ms Mills said many smokers had become numbed to the obvious risks.

Risks to family members, and children, from secondhand smoke were being forgotten.

The Government-financed Quitline service has been operating for two years. It gives support, advice, and vouchers to obtain subsidised quitting aids.

In the United States, Dr Tom Houston, director of the SmokeLess States National Tobacco Policy Initiative, said the Harris Poll was good news because it indicated that more people were taking anti-smoking messages to heart.

The number of smokers who acknowledged the health risks was up from a poll done about four years ago by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, he said.

"That means that our educational effort, the message that we've been trying to get across, is getting through," said the Chicago physician.

About 50 million people in the US were smokers. Only about 3 to 5 per cent were able to stop smoking in any one year.

An estimated 430,000 Americans died prematurely each year from tobacco-related illnesses.

The SmokeLess States programme supports groups working to reduce tobacco use.

NEED HELP?

* Quitline is a free confidential service for those wanting advice and help with quitting

* Call free on 0800-778-778

* Quitline can provide smokers with subsidised nicotine patches and gum if required