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STUB IT OUT: No Smoking Day is a good chance to kick the habit

I WILL tell you a secret: smokers do not like No Smoking Day. On Wednesday, March 12, the 25th annual No Smoking Day, you will see little outposts of them at bus stops, outside pubs, huddled together and puffing defiantly. There are two choices available to smokers on this day. Either they can create a smokescreen between them and the non-smoking world or, like 1.5 million others, they can confront their demons. Neither option is much fun, but that is rather the point.

The team from Dorset SmokeStop - the local NHS Stop Smoking Service - are doing their best to put the fun into quitting.

They are asking local smokers to take part in their Great No Smoking Day Challenge. Run in conjunction with Wessex FM, the challenge asks local teams of four to give up on No Smoking Day and stay smoke-free for four weeks.

Teams can be made up of workmates, friends, family members or sports teams - anyone, in short, who wants to give up smoking.

Those who stay off the cigarettes will be entered into a prize draw to win a SmokeStop goody bag packed with prizes, including a crossing to the Channel Islands courtesy of Condor Ferries, vouchers for GAME and passes allowing entry to a number of local attractions.

What are their chances of success? According to figures issued by the Department of Health, during the period from April to September 2007 the Dorset service was the 10th most successful in the UK, with a success rate of 66 per cent compared to the national average of 50 per cent.

A survey carried out by SmokeStop in December suggested that nearly three-quarters of smokers were aware that help giving up was available from the NHS and, of those questioned, 54 per cent said they would think about giving up in the next three months.

Smokers at Weymouth College on March 7 were given a further push in the right direction by some new software that showed what damage they are doing to their looks as well as their bodies.

The software - loaned by NiQuitin, a company that produces nicotine patches - takes a current photo, then shows what you could look like up to your 70s if you smoke compared with what you could look like if you become or remain smoke-free.

For more information call SmokeStop on 0800 00 76653 or visit www.dorsetsmokestop.co.uk To take part in the Great No Smoking Day Challenge, download an application form from the website or collect one from either your local SmokeStop trained pharmacists or the Wessex FM studio in South St, Dorchester.

8:16am Tuesday 11th March 2008

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