The Wisconsin Tobacco Quit line has seen a record number of callers this year. Rob Adsit, U-W Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, says the quit line has received 20,000 calls in January and February. Compare that to 9,000 for an entire year typically. He attributes this unprecedented growth to several factors.
The quit line began offering nicotine replacement therapy sent directly to people's homes, a new program this year. Also, smoking become more costly in Wisconsin, as the tax on cigarettes went up a dollar per pack on January 1, 2008. Finally, January is the time for New Year's resolution often involving health. Adsit calls these reasons "a perfect storm".
The Wisconsin Tobacco Quit line runs 365 days a year. Counselors fluent in different languages are available at 1-800-quit-now.
