Tobacco.org

Worcester smokers may get an extra boost from the state to help them kick the habit 

State public health surveys show many Bay Staters have quit smoking since the 1980s. From 1986 to 2000, smoking rates fell from 28 percent to 20 percent.

But over the last eight years, rates of decline have slowed significantly, lowering the rate only to about 18 percent, despite major hikes in cigarette taxes, new laws to ban smoking in public places and workplaces, and continual warnings about the health dangers of tobacco.

Cigarette sales mirror the trend. . . .

Beth M. Ewi, program director for the University of Massachusetts Medical School Tobacco Treatment and Research Center in Worcester, has been working on quit-assistance programs for 10 years and oversees the program that has trained hundreds of health workers to counsel smokers in their efforts.

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