tobacco

What’s Hookah?

What’s Hookah?? In the past few years, instead of asking my patients “Do you smoke?” I have learned to ask  “Do you smoke? (pregnant pause)…ANYTHING?” I found that asking in that manner greatly increases my yield. Couple that with Colorado’s legalization of marijuana, and more people are freely sharing the full extent of their substance use with their doctors. Which left me asking the question, “what’s hookah?” (I could add here that I was also asking “what’s shisha” and “what’s snus”?)

 Hookahs are water pipes used to smoke flavored tobacco. The flavors are often sweet- chocolate, cherry, licorice or fruit … Read more

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CVS Quits Smoking!

Congrats to CVS pharmacy for taking a stand for HEALTH and announcing that they will completely quit selling tobacco products by October 1st of this year! While, yes, consumers can choose to walk across the street and head into another store to purchase their cigarettes, I am hopeful that other major pharmacies and grocery stores will consider this same step. As people have heard me say repeatedly, there is NO amount of tobacco that we believe to be actually GOOD for your health.

Every single day in the United States, there are over 1300 deaths attributed to smoking. How can … Read more

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Texting Can Save Lives?

Following up on yesterday’s Great American Smokeout…, an interesting study was published this year looking at the effectiveness of TEXTING support to help people quit smoking. This was an analysis of several other studies, including over 9000 total participants. Text messages were used either exclusively or as a supplemental part of smoking cessation programs. Although the results were not fully consistent between the individual studies, ultimately the data is encouraging to support use of this ever-present appendage to aid people in quitting smoking.

In fact, the National Cancer Institute has a texting support program for smokers wanting to quit. … Read more

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Great American Smokeout!

TODAY, the third Thursday in November, is the annual GREAT AMERICAN SMOKEOUT sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Each year, smokers are encouraged to use this day as a QUIT date, or at least as a day to make a plan to quit. If you have a friend who still smokes, please reach out to them today and kindly encourage them with a reminder that today is a special day earmarked for their health. With this vice, there is NO amount that can be justified as being “good” for you.  Tobacco harms virtually every organ in the body. Everyone knows … Read more

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