Editorial: No time like now to quit

As a region, Whanganui has much to gain from more residents giving up smoking.
Data released by the Health Ministry showing our health board ranking 10th for providing better help to smokers wanting to quit would, at first glance, seem less than optimal but there are major factors at play here.
The Whanganui board catchment has a high prevalence of regular smokers - 26.3 per cent; the New Zealand rate is 20.7 per cent.
Smoking is more prevalent among lower socio-economic areas and Maori and this area has more than the national average of residents who are in the lower socio-economic brackets and more Maori than other areas. Our rate of smoking among Maori, 46.6 per cent, must be of real concern.
Some headway is being made with the DHB improving in comparison to other boards in encouraging people to quit. But Government-assigned targets are one thing, what about real results?
We all know smoking is deadly, the effects are wide-ranging and costly and because of its addictive qualities, it is not easy to give up. Even health board smokefree co-ordinator Julie Tolladay-Poulton conceded "about one in 40 will quit long-term" as a result of the board's anti-smoking campaign.
There is only so much the board can do, and for as many campaigns, and as much support as there is, it really is something the individual has to commit to 100 per cent in order to succeed.
It is not easy to quit smoking, I know, I tried several times before I managed to break the cycle of dependency.
The freedom from planning my life around a cigarette was liberating, not to mention drawing in deep lung-fulls of clean air or actually tasting food.
There are few reasons to want to smoke: At $12.50 a pack of 20 it is expensive and increasingly socially unacceptable - so much so that from July 1 it will not be permitted in prisons.
In contrast, with tobacco smoke containing 4000 chemicals, as well as the social costs through premature deaths, ongoing medical treatments and so on, there are countless reasons to give up.
Yes, it can be disheartening to fail in your attempt to quit but at least you are thinking about it. Make use of the many products and programmes available. Nicotine replacement therapy can double the likelihood that you will succeed.
If ever there was a day to quit, make it today, World Smokefree Day.
Quitline contacts: Phone, 0800 778 778 or website, www.quit.org.nz.