SOUTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
FOR RELEASE: June 18, 2002
CONTACT: Doneen Hollingsworth
 (605) 773-3361

State offers free quit-smoking products to all South Dakota tobacco users

     PIERRE – South Dakotans trying to quit tobacco can now get more help from the state's tobacco cessation program. Governor Janklow says that all South Dakota tobacco users who call the state's tobacco quit line are now eligible for free quit-smoking products such as patches, gum and Zyban.

     Tobacco users who call 1-866-SD QUITS (1-866-737-8487) already receive over-the phone counseling from trained professionals. Selected populations have also received free nicotine replacement patches and gum. Now all participants in Quit Line services will be eligible for these over-the-counter products. To obtain Zyban, people will need to call the Quit Line and also contact their healthcare provider, who then faxes the prescription to the designated pharmacy.

     "Since we opened the line in January, over 2,700 South Dakotans have called for help in quitting tobacco and almost half of them have requested and received free products," Janklow said. "We know that combining counseling with quit-smoking products doubles a tobacco user's chances of successfully quitting. That's why we're expanding the line to get free products to even more tobacco users."

     The Quit Line expansion comes at a good time for South Dakota tobacco users, some of whom will find their workplaces going smoke-free July 1 as a result of the smoke-free public places law passed by the 2002 legislature.

     Previously, the only tobacco users eligible for free product through the South Dakota Quit Line were adults with chronic health conditions such as asthma or heart disease and those with a significantly high rate of tobacco use, such as young adults and Native Americans.

     Secretary of Health Doneen Hollingsworth said the products were originally limited to specific at-risk populations in order to test the system and to gauge ability to meet demand. 

     The Quit Line is a partnership with the American Cancer Society, which operates similar counseling lines in other states. South Dakota is the only state to offer free quit-smoking products and telephone counseling services statewide. 

     The department's tobacco control budget includes $2,620,489 to deliver Quit Line counseling and cessation products. Twenty-two percent of adult South Dakotas are smokers and eligible for Quit Line services and products. Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and secondhand smoke results in serious illness for nonsmokers, including an increased risk of respiratory infections and asthma in children. 

     For more information about the South Dakota Quit Line, call the department's Tobacco Control Program at 1-800-738-2301 or visit the web at http://www.state.sd.us/doh/Tobacco/quit.htm .