No Smoking Day 2010
Over the past few years more and more people have been kicking the deadly habit for good and this trend, coupled with the advent of the smoking ban, the prohibitive prices and the increase of the legal smoking age, is due in no small part to No Smoking Day.
Having said that, there are still thousands of people who want to quit: in fact three out of four smokers want to give it up, but it is a salutary fact that over half of all long term smokers will die as a result of their habit, whilst smoking remaining the UK’s most pressing health issue.
No Smoking Day was inaugurated 25 years ago, appropriately enough on Ash Wednesday; it has been taking place annually ever since on the second Wednesday in March – which in 2010 is the 10th March.
Part of No Smoking Day’s success is due to the fact that it works throughout the year in partnership with other organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors, and undertakes extensive ground research, liaising with smokers to discover the key factors that trigger an attempt to quit.
No Smoking Day: The Charity
Run by the eponymous UK charity of four full-time staff and assisted by health-related governmental and voluntary sector organisations, the campaign targets smokers in novel and innovative ways. Its aim is to involve as many people as possible to encourage and assist smokers who want to give up, and to direct them to sources of help and advice.Every year more than a million smokers use No Smoking Day as the launch pad for their attempt to stop smoking, and the movement has become the UK’s foremost public health event with huge media coverage, making Britain a world leader in promoting smoking cessation.
The first president of No Smoking Day is Duncan Bannatyne – entrepreneur and dragon from BBC TV’s programme Dragons’ Den, who says:
“A twenty-a-day smoker could save £2,111 a year by quitting, so it makes financial sense, health sense and good common sense. There’s no better time to quite than No Smoking Day.”
As well as encouraging local and group events from the website www.nosmokingday.org.uk, the organization works with pharmacies, health centres, gyms, universities, dentists, schools and companies including Tesco and Boots to mount displays, provide advice and information, and run prize draws and competitions.
As well as offering inspiration, you can also download advice, publicity material or merchandise from the site.
And there’s plenty of support available for quitters too, with an interactive blog, maps of where to get advice locally, and information about patches, gum, Champix or other aids.