Classes offered to help those who wish to quit smoking

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds, including 50 known cancer-causing chemicals, so what better time to quit, than right now?

The South Central Public Health District offers free tobacco cessation classes to those who wish to quit smoking.

The programs are five sessions long and offered several times a year in various communities.

The purpose is to help smokers gain control over their behavior. There are classes for youth, adult and women who are pregnant.

The program coordinator will work with each individual to set personalized quit dates and goals.

If you attend all five classes you have a 70 percent chance of becoming smoke free.

“I really like helping people,” said Cody Orchard, health education specialist. “I feel that if they could quit this habit that they would have a meaningful and healthy life. It's not just adults who quit who want to have a better healthy lifestyle, it's also working with teenagers, making sure that they don't develop these same habits that many adults do that start smoking at the age of 12 or 13.”

The state of Idaho also allows pharmacists to prescribe Chantix, a drug to help with smoking cessation.

“Actually when people quit smoking, their health improves dramatically,” said Melanie Gonzales, cancer education coordinator. “Their body is able to clean out all of the toxins it has acquired through the cigarettes over the years and they actually start adding time back to their life when they quit.”

The classes are in the Magic and Wood River Valleys, and can be taught at schools, probation offices, libraries, and South Central Public Health District offices.

The program teaches about the potential dangers of vaping, nicotine addiction and stress management.

In Idaho:

• 10,200 high school students smoke (12.2% of the total high school population)

• 61,000 children are exposed to secondhand smoke at home

• 30,200 youth are projected to ultimately die from a smoking

• $319,000,000 in annual healthcare costs are caused by smoking

• $527 is the average Idaho household federal and state tax burden due to smoking