Despite the known risks and high costs, tobacco use remains popular among Americans, especially with young adults in the Midwest.
This is Public Health is brought to you in partnership with the Tuscarawas County Health Department.
You’ve heard the stats: Smoking can cause lung, mouth, esophagus, and pancreatic cancer. It’s unhealthy, dangerous, and sometimes deadly. According to the CDC, 1,600 teens and young adults try their first cigarette every day. And smoking doesn’t only affect the smoker- secondhand smoke is extremely harmful to your loved ones’ health.
Maybe you’ve heard these facts and you’ve been contemplating quitting. Maybe you don’t know where to start. Are you’re looking to kick the habit in the new year?
The Tuscarawas County Health Department offers county residents a Tobacco Use Prevention & Cessation Program. In collaboration with the Anti-Drug Coalition, the program “create[s] social norm change through community action to decrease initiation and use of tobacco in local communities, as well as decrease the community’s exposure to secondhand smoke.” The dual-agency task force meets virtually on the third Monday of every month at 10 am. For more information, call 330-343-5555 X 178.
For free and confidential help on your journey toward quitting tobacco, check out the TCHD tobacco prevention website at https://www.tchdnow.org/tobacco-use-prevention.html. Programs from My Life My Quit and the Ohio Tobacco Program are readily available to you. Local providers are also available to help you kick the habit. You can also visit www.tchdnow.org or find them on Facebook for more information about the Tuscarawas County Health Department and their other services.
Audrey Mattevi
Reporting