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Smokers find support, kits
By Sam Baali
 Media Credit: Marie McCutcheon Mary Beth Bruflodt, a sophomore, picks up information on breaking the habit of smoking and gets gadgets like bendable pens in Atwood Thursday during the Great American Smoke Out. She has been smoking for the last six years and hopes to quit.
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The third Thursday of every November, the Great American Smoke Out attempts to inspire smokers everywhere do to one thing.
Quit.
Lynn Smith, former editor and publisher of the Monticello newspaper Monticello Times founded the Great American Smoke Out almost 30 years ago, in November 1974.
One year later, the entire state of Minnesota had jumped on board. California followed suit in 1977; by 1980 the Great American Smoke Out was adopted nationally.
Don Smith, Lynn Smith’s son, is the current editor and publisher of the Monticello Times. Smith said his father started his pursuit of anti-smoking by writing an editorial in the Monticello Times. The editorial encouraged community involvement in order to stop smoking.
Thursday’s 26th annual Smoke Out saw an SCSU Student Health Services sponsored booth in Atwood. The booth distributed pamphlets from the American Cancer Association and handed out “quit smoking kits.”
“This day is designated to give people morale to quit smoking,” said Health Services’ Troy Schafter, who was working at the booth.
The kits consisted of candy, popcorn, buttons, a tooth brush, bubbles, a bendable pen, a carabiner and a bottle of water.
Senior Chauncy Barfknecht also worked at the booth. He explained that the items in the kit were put in, to distract people from smoking.
Barfknecht also explained the significance of each item in the bag. The food items in the kit were designed to keep people’s minds off smoking. The bendable pen was designed to keep smokers from fidgeting, helping them fight the urge to light up. The carabiner was designed to represent smokers becoming unhooked. Bubbles, the tooth brush and button were other distractions.
Sophomore Chuck Degeest said that he had quit smoking about two weeks ago.
“I couldn’t breathe and I coughed a lot,” Degeest said. “I never want to smoke again.”
Some students like sophomores Jessica Beaudry and Evan Weiner went so far as to crush their full cigarette boxes at the booth.
“(Smoking) is too expensive and inconvenient,” Beaudry said.
“Don’t start; it is bad for you,” Weiner added.
A person who smokes one pack per day spends about $1,460 per year, the equivalent of a $300 camcorder and eight DVDs or 20 CDs.
In 2001, 32.7 percent of high school seniors in Stearns County smoked.
Schafter and Barfknecht both said that the difficulty of quitting smoking depends on the person; the nicotine that is put in the tobacco is addictive.
Their message was clear: quitting smoking is a personal choice. Those who choose to quit are a lot better off in all aspects of their lives, they said.
To quit smoking call the Minnesota helpline at 1-877-270-STOP for some free nicotine patches.
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