AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, DOCTORS SUPPORT SMOKEOUT

One in every five Missouri deaths can be traced to tobacco use.

In a typical eighth-grade classroom in Cape Girardeau County, five students already smoke regularly.

Each year passive smoke causes lung cancer in 3,000 Americans.

Those statistics, provided by the Cape Girardeau Area Medical Society, are frightening. They were enough to make the doctors' organization recently come out in support of smoking control efforts in the region.

But statistics alone haven't been enough to make all of the 11,000 adult smokers in Cape Girardeau County quit, even though an estimated 80 percent want to.

This Thursday's 18th Great American Smokeout, sponsored by the American Cancer Society and supported by the local medical society, may be the perfect time. The American Cancer Society makes the Smokeout a light-hearted way to encourage smokers to give quitting a try.

Nearly three million Americans gave up smoking for 24 hours during last year's Smokeout.

Dr. Richard Martin, an ear, nose and throat specialist in Cape Girardeau, has feelings for those who try to quit; a board member of the local medical society, he smoked for 15 years and quit four times before he smoked his last cigarette in 1980.

"It may have been easier to quit as a doctor, because I felt like a hypocrite," Martin said. "I'd tell someone to quit smoking and then go bum a cigarette."

He has studied the causes behind cigarette addiction, and pointed to an experiment that proved nicotine was more addictive than morphine or cocaine. Laboratory rats given cocaine or morphine stopped taking it to eat. Rats given nicotine kept on taking it until they starved to death.

In addition to suppressing appetite, nicotine delivers highs and lows. People who try to quit experience withdrawal symptoms, including mood swings. They aren't used to interpreting their body's signals, mistaking hunger, thirst or boredom as a need for a cigarette.

Quitting is possible, though, for those who are determined. Even if a smoker doesn't choose Thursday to quit, Martin said, he may try tapering down for three weeks in advance of a quitting date.

"Plan for that day like you would for a wedding," he said. "Analyze which cigarettes you need the worst and what you're going to put in place of them."

He suggests chewing gum or eating sliced apples and carrots. Smokers should carry a small toothbrush and toothpaste, because frequent brushing curbs the desire to smoke. They also should get plenty of rest.

Maggie Friend, a volunteer with the American Stop Smoking Intervention Study, began smoking behind a shed at 13 and was addicted by the time she graduated high school. She quit for various time intervals, from three years to just a few days. Her last cigarette was in 1990.

Friend's husband had a smoke-related heart attack several years ago and quit smoking immediately afterward. Now he is president of the local chapter of the American Heart Association while Friend works with the American Cancer Society.

"So many smokers go day after day saying, `I'm going to quit some day,'" she said. "The Great American Smokeout is a first-step approach."

After smoking 25 years, Friend cut back gradually until she quit. It wasn't always easy, she remembered, mentioning a time she walked through the mall and found a fresh cigarette someone had dropped. She had to resist the urge to pick it up and light it.

She didn't, and the benefits have kept coming. No more chronic sinus infections. No more lectures from her 11-year-old son.

The support of non-smokers means a lot to those trying to quit on the Great American Smokeout. Friend suggested they adopt a smoker, agreeing to give up some beloved habit if the smoker gives up cigarettes. Non-smokers can offer their friends gum or lollipops.

The most important thing, Friend said, is to remain supportive even if the smoker lights up.

"Just because they weaken doesn't mean they can't quit," she said. "They should be encouraged to go the rest of the day without a cigarette."

To receive information outlining the benefits of quitting and offering tips, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345.

TIPS FOR SURVIVING

Get rid of all cigarettes and put away ashtrays.

Change your morning routine. Don't sit in the same location as usual during breakfast.

Stay busy throughout the day. When you get the urge to smoke, do something else.

Carry other things to put in your mouth, such as gum, hard candy or toothpicks.

Reward yourself at the end of the day for not smoking. Go out for a movie or special meal.

Consider all the positive things about quitting, such as pleasing your family, feeling better about yourself, positive health benefits and gaining a new feeling of control.