Letter: Headline did not tell story

On Dec. 29, you ran an article (the article was from Wheeler News Service and appeared on the Star-Observer Web site, www.hudsonstarobserver.com), “$1 cigarette tax not forcing as many to quit as hoped.”

I felt the need to write you as the headline misrepresents what “anti-smoking advocates” are saying.

The message is that smokers have quit, lots of them, as evidenced by those 39,000 who reached out to the Quit Line. And, we are pleased with those numbers because smokers are making a healthier choice for themselves and their families. And in these tough times, it is a wise move economically as well.

Quitting is very difficult and it’s not just a tax increase that will get people to quit, it’s a matter of overcoming their addictions. In May, former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said he would amend some earlier comments he made in the past about nicotine being “as addictive as cocaine and heroin to now feeling very strongly that nicotine is more addictive.”

We hope that the Wisconsin Legislature will continue to invest in tobacco prevention and cessation. There are still thousands of smokers who want to quit – an estimated 70 percent of smokers.

Clearly, the Quit Line is helping a lot of smokers quit, and the Tobacco Prevention program has shown significant success because teen smoking rates have almost been cut in half since the program’s inception. There is still work to do in both helping smokers quit and making sure children don’t start – but clearly we are making progress.

Tags: opinion, hudson, letter, smokefree, wi, anti-smoking