Dear Editor,

Quitting tobacco use is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your family. If you have made a New Year’s resolution to stop smoking in 2011, free help is available.

The Alabama Department of Public Health offers a free telephone-based tobacco cessation service that provides free counseling and four weeks of free nicotine patches, if medically eligible and enrolled in counseling.

The Alabama Tobacco Quitline (1-800-Quit-Now) can be reached Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Calls placed after these hours will be returned the next business day.

Quitline services are also available online at www.Alabamaquitnow.com.

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the United States. Each year, more than 7,600 Alabamians die from smoking-related causes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for every person that dies, 20 people are suffering from at least one serious tobacco-related illness.

Call 1-800-Quit-Now (1-800-784-8669).

Demetra Peoples, Tobacco Prevention and Control Coordinator