With ‘Stoptober’ just around the corner, smokers in Cornwall are being encouraged to join millions of others who are planning to quit.

Cornwall Council’s wellbeing and public health team is launching Smokefree Cornwall, a new campaign to:

· Reduce the exposure of tobacco to children and young people,

· Make smokefree places the norm 

· Support smokers who want to stop.

Part of the campaign is to ask people to think about milestones in their life. These could include becoming a parent or grandparent, a child’s graduation, a wedding, or something else that highlights to them how the joy in life and the benefits to living longer far outweigh their addiction to tobacco.

Interim Deputy Director for Public Health Steve Brown said: “We’re encouraging people to think more about a recent milestone in their life or one that is coming up as we have seen that it is often easier for people to quit for someone else, rather than themselves.”

“It’s not just about that motivation, although that’s very important, it’s also key to have the right support in place to help you, whether that is one to one support from a wellbeing advisor, nicotine replacement or a mixture of all of these things.

"Having someone to help you to quit or switch to vaping means that you are four times more likely to stay smokefree in the long run”

Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in Cornwall, with around 1000 smoking related deaths recorded every year.

Cornwall Council recently signed a declaration reinforcing its commitment to ensure tobacco control is a priority, and is aligned to the Government's ambition to be smoke free by 2030.

Second hand smoke is also a contributing factor to poor health, so it’s important that children are given the best possible start in life by making their homes and outdoor spaces free of cigarette smoke.

Cornwall is already on its way to becoming smoke free. In 2009 23.5 per cent of adults in Cornwall smoked and in 2019 that has dropped to 13.8 per cent.

That number needs to drop further to 5% and under to reach the smoke free target set by the Tobacco Control Plan for England.

One of the ways in which more people are being encouraged to bin the cigarettes is by switching to vaping. If anyone is thinking of switching it’s still important to get 1-1 help as it can really help to have advice on what to do when those old cravings hit.

For help to quit or switch call Healthy Cornwall on 01209 615600 or visit the Healthy Cornwall website https://www.healthycornwall.org.uk/make-a-change/stop-smoking/stop-smoking-programme/