Tobacco.org

Smoker ready to extinguish habit  

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of stories about Melanie Birge’s battle with nicotine addiction. . . .

Teary-eyed Melanie Birge, 42, of Lawrence, knows her nicotine addiction has affected her family, and that’s one of the reasons she plans to participate in the American Cancer’s Society Great American Smokeout on Thursday.

“I have three kids still at home. They are concerned about me dying early because they hear it from the schools, ‘Don’t do drugs, don’t smoke.’ They are always upset when I do go out and smoke,” she said.

Birge began smoking when she was Katie’s age and was a habitual smoker by 13, giving in to peer pressure from her older cousins and siblings who smoked.

“It was just cool in the ’70s to smoke, and I wanted to fit in. Everyone I knew, including my parents, smoked,” she said.

Today, she is disgusted by it.

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