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"Butt out on Weedless Wednesday -- help disaster victims"

The Record (Sherbrooke)
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Page: 1 / FRONT
Section: News
Byline: *Leah* *Fitzgerald*
Source: The Record

It's Weedless Wednesday, and if you hurry, and put down that cigarette, you can still quit and help tsunami victims in South East Asia.

Stop smoking coach Jill Binder is hoping smokers will pledge the cost of today's pack -- about $8 -- to the Red Cross or another relief organization and quit for the day. In exchange, Binder is providing support on the Web, at quitforaday.ca, and by phone today.

As well, any pledges will receive an information pack with eight steps to quitting smoking and the five mistakes smokers make.

Binder is aiming for 100,000 people across the country -- or about 10 per cent of the smokers in Ontario -- to pledge the money that day. She's hoping almost $1 million will end up helping people instead of going up in smoke that day.

"It's amazing that that's how much people spend on smoking every day," she says.

There are about six million smokers in Canada according to Statistics Canada. If each pledged the cost of a pack of cigarettes, about over $40 million could go to helping people affected by the tsunami.

Binder has an upcoming book about her career as a stop smoking coach.

Binder says her father's own smoking, coupled with a talk in her Grade 2 class about the dangers of smoking, moved her to help people quit.

"I thought my father loved smoking more than me," she says of his unwillingness to quit. "I didn't understand how difficult it is to quit."

Binder is now well aware of the problems. She says smokers who can get through one day without tobacco can quit for life.

"It takes a few days to get the nicotine out of your system," she explains. "But you can do it in one day by drinking lots of water and eating plenty of fruits and vegetables."

The real trick, Binder says, isn't getting past the physical addiction to nicotine -- it's working through the habitual or psychological addiction the smoker is probably suffering.

Stats Canada says only six per cent of smokers can quit by traditional methods -- and 50 per cent of current smokers tried to quit at least once, and up to three times last year.

"Getting over the nicotine is just the first hurdle," she says. "For some people, that's all they need. For most, it's much harder."

It's non-smoking this week, appropriate given the recent announcement by the provincial government to consider a Quebec-wide smoking ban. Several provinces across Canada, including New Brunswick, Ontario and Nova Scotia, have banned smoking in
restaurants, bars and other public establishments. Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, on the other hand, has squashed current hopes for a ban in that province, saying that smoking is still legal in Canada.

Binder says she can't predict the way the smoking ban will go in Quebec.

"There's a very European outlook," she says. "I know that in Ontario I had a spike in clients after the ban came through. Some of them said they couldn't smoke anywhere, so they may as well quit."

Binder said the most important factor to a successful attempt at quitting smoking is feeling ready to quit. She doesn't recommend making stopping a new year's resolution, though.

"It's the worse time," she says. "They try, they fail, they wait until next year to try to stop again."

Instead, she recommends setting a date when you stop, and then working up to that date by cutting down slowly. It's this method Binder uses with most of her clients.

"Whether the client is ready to quit, or wants to take it slowly, it takes about the same amount of time to quit," she says. "Sometimes, people end up quitting before the date since they've already stopped smoking."

Most important, Binder says, is dealing with the issue that brings smokers back to the habit.

"In times of stress, smokers will think just one cigarette will get them through," she says. "It's important to think like a non-smoker and try to cope like a non-smoker would."

Finding ways of dealing with stress -- and finding smoke-free stress relief -- for stress-smokers is one of the biggest points, Binder says. Identifying emotional triggers, as well as habits that trigger a craving, can help make it easier to quit.

Smoking rates have been declining in Canada for several years, with the percentage of smokers in 2000-2001 at 21.5 per cent overall according to Statistics Canada. The highest percentage of smokers is in 35-44 age group, with 27.1 per cent smoking regularly or occasionally.

In Quebec, the percentage overall of smokers was 24.9 per cent, with the highest percentage again in the 35-44 age range with 30.9 per cent.

In Canada, between 1994 and 2001, 23.9 per cent of smokers quit. In Quebec, 26.1 per cent of smokers quit in the same period.

For more information on Jill Binder, visit www.stopsmokingcoach.ca.

Idnumber: 200501190029
Edition: Final
Story Type: Statistics
Length: 816 words
Illustration Type: Colour Photo
Black & White Photo
Illustration: Color Photo: Perry Beaton, Special / There are about six million smokers in Canada according to Statistics Canada.

Photo: Perry Beaton, Special / In Quebec, the percentage overall of smokers was 24.9 per cent, with the highest percentage again in the 35-44 age range with 30.9 per cent.