According to www.cancer.org, “about 32.4 million American adults still smoke cigarettes, and smoking remains the single largest preventable cause of death and illness in the world…Some groups smoke more heavily or at higher rates and suffer disproportionately from smoking-related cancer and other diseases. These populations tend to be those who experience inequities in multiple areas of their lives, including those at lower socioeconomic levels, those without college degrees, American Indians/Alaska natives, African American/Black communities, LGBTQ communities, those in the military, those with behavioral health conditions, and others.”

As a way to help smokers in all communities, a drive to quit called The Great American Smokeout was founded November 18,1976.

The Great American Smokeout, which is celebrated on the third Thursday of November (November 19), is to give a starting point for people who smoke to become smoking-free, giving them a chance to have a heathy life. The challenge is to have the smokers stop for 24-hours and, if they can, to become nonsmokers after those 24-hours have been completed successfully.

The message of this day is to make people, both smokers and nonsmokers, aware of a way to prevent death or illness from smoking. Forty-five years later, it is still an effective challenge.

If you’d like to know more about The Great American Smokeout and ways to participate as a student, go to https://www.tobaccofreecampus.org/the-great-american-smokeout.