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QUIT
Stop smoking today, not later

To all of you out there who vow time and time again that you aren’t addicted to cigarettes, here’s your opportunity to prove it.

Today is the Great American Smokeout, and the national goal is for everyone to put out their cigarettes and help keep the world smoke-free for a whole day.

Easier said than done? Maybe. But while diehard smokers aren’t likely to pay any attention to this day, we realize that there are smokers who haven’t graduated to a full-blown addiction.

Some of you may know social smokers on or near campus — the people who smoke only on the weekends, only in the bars or only when their friends are doing it.

While these social smokers generally think they don’t have a problem, social smoking can turn into something much greater than they ever bargained for. It becomes a cigarette in the car. It becomes a cigarette during a study break. It becomes a cigarette after eating.

Let’s just say it adds up to a lot of cigarettes.

College may be the time we are most susceptible to social smoking. It is also the time we can most easily stop.

Think of how many times you have said to yourself, “I don’t have a problem,” and remember that no one thinks they have a smoking problem to start with. Hate to break it to you, but if you find yourself fighting the need to have a cigarette several times a day, chances are you have a problem.

Put out your cigarettes for the Great American Smokeout. If it’s so easy, prove it to yourself, the world and your lungs.

They’ll all thank you in the long run.