• On average, people who quit, regardless of age, live longer than people who continue to smoke.
• Smokers who quit before age 50 have half the risk of dying of smoking related illnesses in the next 15 years compared with those who continue to smoke.
• Quitting smoking significantly reduces your risk of heart disease and emphysema, and cancers of the lung, larynx (voice box), pharynx, esophagus, mouth, pancreas, bladder and cervix.
• After 15 years, a former smoker’s risk of death returns to nearly the level of a person who has never smoked.
• Smokers receiving tobacco dependence counseling are more than four times as likely to succeed in stopping tobacco use.

Know the Facts

• Tobacco use is taking a terrible toll in our state. Over 13,000 New Jersey residents die annually of cancer and other tobacco related diseases.
• Second hand smoke is an environmental hazard to non-smokers and children. Over 50,000 Americans die each year from illnesses caused by second hand smoke.
• Over 400,000 Americans die each year from smoking related illnesses - more than from AIDS, alcohol/drug abuse, fires, car accidents, suicides and homicides combined.
• Inhaled tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, arsenic and lead.
• Nicotine is a powerful drug found in all tobacco products. It is a highly addictive drug like cocaine and heroin.
• The average smoker spends over $10,000 on cigarettes in five years.

Tobacco Use Causes More than Lung Cancer

It also causes the following cancers:

• Acute myeloid leukemia  
• Cancer of the larynx (voice box)
• Bladder cancer     
• Cancer of the oral cavity (mouth)   
• Cancer of the cervix       
• Cancer of the pharynx (throat)    
• Cancer of the esophagus
• Stomach cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Cancer of the uterus 
   

It causes respiratory disease:
Smoking is also responsible for lung disease, for example: emphysema, bronchitis and chronic airway obstruction, by damaging the airways and alveoli (small air sacs) of the lungs.

It causes cardiovascular disease:
• Smoking causes coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States
• Smoking reduces circulation by narrowing the blood vessels and puts smokers at risk of developing peripheral vascular disease which can cause pain, tissue loss or gangrene
• Smoking causes abdominal aortic aneurysm, a swelling or weakening of the main artery of the body, where it runs through the abdomen

It is associated with reduced bone density:
• Postmenopausal women who smoke have lower bone density than women who never smoked
• Women who smoke have an increased risk for hip fracture compared to  women who never smoked

It is also associated with:
• Infertility
• Preterm delivery
• Stillbirth
• Low birth weigh
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

If you would like to know more about our Treatment Program please call us for your free information and application packet at 609-653-3440.