The Beaufort County Health Department encourages tobacco users to commemorate this Fourth of July by declaring freedom from nicotine addiction, or to encourage the smokers in your life to declare their freedom from cigarettes.

The design and contents of tobacco products make them addictive. They deliver more nicotine and deliver it quicker than ever before. Filtered and low-tar cigarettes are every bit as addictive and no safer than other cigarettes. Nicotine is the highly addictive drug in cigarettes that keeps people smoking, even when they want to quit. Like heroin or cocaine, nicotine changes the way the brain works and causes smokers to crave more and more nicotine. Many teens who try cigarettes don’t know how easy it is to become addicted. In fact, most smokers became addicted as teenagers.

Breaking nicotine addiction is harder for some people than others. Despite this challenge, more than half of all adults who ever smoked have succeeded in quitting. It may take several attempts before someone successfully beats the addiction.

Breaking free from nicotine dependence is not the only reason to quit smoking. Smoking cessation can improve your health by lowering your heart rate; reducing carbon monoxide levels in the blood to normal; lowering the risk for lung and other types of cancer; reducing the risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease; reducing respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath; and lowering the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Your health will improve, and that’s good news for you and your loved ones.

Additional information and resources are available from @CDCTobaccoFree at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/calendar/jul/independence_day/index.htm/?s_cid=fb_osh26.

For more information on quitting smoking, call 1-800-QUIT NOW or contact Kelli Russell, preparedness coordinator with Beaufort County Health Department at 252-940-6528.