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THOMPSON: BE WELL - Kicking the habit  

Smoking has never been my cup of tea, but some people picked up tobacco smoking during the vulnerable teen years, found it enjoyable and pleasurable at first, but now can't kick the habit because of addiction to the psychoactive agent, nicotine. By the way, smoking will cost you 13 to 15 years of average life expectancy. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that tobacco use is the second cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. It might not be a bad idea to start thinking about quitting.

Kicking the habit

Smoking cessation, kicking the habit, is a challenging process, but mental health experts say that these days you really don't have to feel alone; you can find support. There is support, for example, in counselling and medication to help you stop smoking. So you want to quit: . . .

Talking about quitting, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica (for The Jamaica Coalition for Tobacco Control) recently received a grant from the Bloomberg Global Initiative to implement picture-based no-smoking warnings on tobacco products sold in Jamaica and three other Caribbean countries - Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.

Dawn Williams, a communications officer with this new programme, said that the placing of picture-based warnings on cigarette packages is "simply the reinforcing of a treaty already signed and ratified by Caribbean countries". This treaty is the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC).

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