Free products offered for students
The ASU Health and Wellness Center is trying to make it easier for students to stop smoking by giving away free nicotine replacements.
The program, which started Monday, will give students four weeks of free nicotine replacement products such as the patch, nicotine gum or the prescription drug Zyban, an antidepressant that helps people quit smoking, said pharmacy manager Carl Labbe.
“Four weeks worth of free products is well over $100,” Labbe said. Nicotine replacement products range in price from $25 to $40.
The smoking cessation program is funded by the state tax on tobacco products.
Students will also get free 30-minute counseling sessions once a week for smoking cessation.
Many students have trouble paying for the nicotine replacements, said Mary Rimsza, director of the health center. But there are still students who seek help, she added.
Four students have gone into the health center in the past three days to get nicotine replacements products.
Labbe is trying to get eight weeks of free products to give students.
“My rule of thumb is that it takes eight weeks to get someone off nicotine,” he said.
Labbe said he has seen a lot of people who only smoke when they socialize, but that is enough to cause long-term consequences, such as upper-respiratory illness.
Labbe has been counseling students for three years to break their smoking habits. He reported that 75 percent of college students nationwide have smoked at least one cigarette. Among students who smoke, 67 percent have tried to quit.
After Labbe established the smoking clinic at ASU, the overall six-month quit rate in the first eight months of the clinic was 51 percent.
“Quitting smoking is the single best thing a person could do for their health,” he said.
" College smokers statistics
• Nearly 75% of college-aged students nationwide have smoked at least one cigarette.
• 29% of college students smoke one or more cigarettes on a daily basis.
• Of those smokers, 34% smoke 11 or more cigarettes per day and 16.5% smoke 20 or more cigarettes per day.
• Among students who smoke, 67% have tried to quit smoking.
• 5.4% of college students use smokeless tobacco.
Source: Carl Labbe, ASU pharmacy manager "
Reach Jennifer Voges at
jennyvoges@hotmail.com.
