Quitting Smoking May Love Company

Eric Wolbert has been a nonsmoker for 30 days.

He quit his pack-a-day habit because he's watched cigarettes hurt too many people, including his grandparents, who died of lung cancer, he said.

Plus, smoking's getting too expensive.

"You can't find a pack that costs less than $4 anymore, and those are nasty ones," said Wolbert, 36, of Waterloo. "Right there, that's $2,200 a year up in smoke."

Wolbert signed up for Freedom From Smoking at Washington University's Siteman Cancer Center. It's a seven-week group-therapy session that takes place at other area hospitals, including St. Louis University Hospital and St. John's Mercy Medical Center.

This is Wolbert's third attempt at quitting. The first two times, his doctor prescribed Chantix, a drug that blocks nicotine receptors in the brain, and wished him luck.

Wolbert, who learned of about Freedom From Smoking from a co-worker, is confident he'll succeed this time.

Health and family organizations believe that the economic downturn, combined with higher tobacco taxes, makes this a good time for health care providers to help people like Wolbert quit smoking. And yet, they say, that's not happening.

Recently the American Legacy Foundation in Springdale, Ariz., which focuses on family health and wellness, conducted a survey of smokers. It found that about 78 percent of those in St. Louis (70 percent of those nationwide) are thinking about quitting, but only 32 percent have talked to a health care provider about it.

And even when they did, slightly more than a third were offered prescriptions for over-the-counter nicotine replacement products or prescription drugs like Chantix. Only 15 percent were offered self-help materials, informed about classes and counseling programs, shown a video about quitting or referred to a cessation specialist.

Matthew Kuhlenbeck, program officer with the nonprofit Missouri Foundation for Health, attributes this to a prevailing "don't ask don't tell" attitude in doctors' examining rooms.

And that's a shame, he said.

"In many ways, doctors are the best advocate for getting an individual to never start or quit," Kuhlenbeck said. "They carry a lot of weight with their patients."