UK: Plymouth Smokers Spend over £1m on Tobacco Every Week

Source from:  Plymouth Herald  01/29/2013

SMOKING is the city's single biggest cause of premature death and disease and with the re-launch of The Herald's loveLIFE campaign we are urging people to take on the challenge and kick the habit.

Re-launched at the start of January, following a hugely successful first year, we want our second year of loveLIFE to be even bigger and better and have set the city four challenges – one being to quit smoking.

Latest figures, from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), have revealed that Plymouth has an average of around 48,566 smokers, who collectively spend over £1m buying tobacco every week.

We experience 600 avoidable, early deaths every year from smoking-related disease and although Plymouth was one of the first cities to set up a free NHS Stop Smoking Service some 14 years ago, in 1999, smoking prevalence remains higher in Plymouth than the England average.

Jane Bullard, tobacco control lead for Public Health Plymouth, said: "The figures for Plymouth are truly disturbing but it does show how smoking is affecting everyone in the city.

"I would urge everyone to think about how they can help reduce the numbers of lives lost to smoking each year and how we can prevent our children and young people from taking up this deadly habit."

The figures highlight the seriousness of our city's problem, said Russ Moody, senior public health manager for tobacco control at Public Health Plymouth.

"The figures are very alarming and show that we've got a lot of work to do," he said.

"We have a very serious problem in Plymouth and have high rates of smokers compared to the national average.

"More than one in five people in the city smoke and that's why we have high rates of smoking-related diseases and deaths."

Mr Moody said reducing the number of city smokers always has been and remains a "priority" for the public health team.

If you're a smoker who is looking to quit the deadly habit, then we want to hear from you.

No matter how big or small your challenge, let us know now.

We'll enrol you on to our loveLIFE team and write a story about your efforts.

Whether you're young, old, fit, not so fit, large or small, we want to hear from you and we want you to be part of Team loveLIFE for 2013. Enditem