“Pick A Day To Save Your Life! Be…Smoke Free!”
These words are written on the rubber twisty - a complimentary gift included in the Great American Smokeout” survival kit that Watkins Health Center gives out to its patients who come to the facility searching for a way to stop smoking.
The twisty is blue in color with white puffy cloud-like shapes. It is 15 inches long and its purpose is to give smokers an alternative – something they can do physically, like curl it into a ball or wrap it around a forearm or wrist - as opposed to the repetitive hand-to-mouth habit.
According to a Sept. 2006 report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one of every five deaths in the U.S. is due to smoking. The report also showed that nonsmokers live about 14 years longer and an estimated 25 million Americans will die prematurely due to complications from smoking.
Erin Lomasney, Hutchinson sophomore, has been a smoker for two years. Her ex-boyfriend was a smoker and she soon followed. She smokes about five times a day and about a pack-and-a-half a week. She tried to quit last May – on her own.
She failed.
“It’s just a habit,” she said. “It’s hard to change habit.”
The Wellness Resource Center at Watkins Memorial Health Center offers free smoking cessation programs to KU students, but Lomasney has never sought professional help with her addiction and has no plans to enter a treatment program. Yet, she wants to quit smoking – on her own. And now she may have a better way to do so.
In August a new wonder-drug came out on the market called Chantix. The drug does not contain nicotine, but targets nicotine receptors in the brain, causing them to relieve symptoms of withdrawal. But Chantix also stimulates the receptors and blocks the recurring nicotine effects if someone resumes the old habit of smoking.
The recommended dosage for the 12-week prescription drug is: for the first three days take one white .50 mg tablet per day. For days four through seven: the same dosage, but two pills per day. And from day eight until the end of treatment: two blue 1 mg tablets per day. Patients should take the pill after eating and should drink at least 8 ounces of water with each dose. But taking Chantix also comes with a hefty price. It costs about $100 a month to take the medication.
But a recent study showed that Chantix might be worth the price, as it has proved to be quite effective. When taking 1 mg of Chantix two times a day, 44 percent of smokers who used the drug quit, as compared to the thirty percent quit rate of smokers who took 150 mg of Zyban twice daily. The study also showed that patients taking a sugar pill, just 17 percent were able to quit.
Mai Do, Marketing Coordinator at Watkins Health Center, said that even though Chantix has been a success, it is not a cure-all on its own.
“A combination of counseling, medication and commitment to a program has shown to be effective,” Do said. “Ultimately, it’s up to the individual to really commit to stop smoking.”