Today is the “Great American Smokeout.”
Doreen Odera is Community Health Educator with Fargo Cass Public Health. She says the Great American Smokeout began over fifty years ago as a way to encourage smokers to pick a day to begin their journey to quitting tobacco. Today, users of tobacco, smokeless tobacco, vapes and e-cigarettes are all encouraged to begin their own quit journeys.
Odera says tobacco and nicotine use are associated with numerous illnesses and cancers.
"One major data from the American Cancer Association is three out of ten cancer deaths are a result of smoking; so knowing it's something that's preventable, pushing toward planning a quit date is something that's very important and a push in the right direction to make sure that we are a smoke free generation."
The adult smoking rate nationally is 12.1 percent. North Dakota’s rate is a little higher, at 13.4 percent – and every year, about a thousand North Dakotans die from commercial tobacco use. Odera says several resources are available at Fargo Cass Public Health and through the state of North Dakota to get users started on their journeys to quit. Some are even free to qualifying residents.