November is the month to ditch tobacco

Thanks to education about the risks of smoking plus cessation and harm reduction efforts, fewer American adults smoke than at any time in the last century. Today, just 14% of adult males and 11% of females are smoking cigarettes. Yet that terrific achievement is tempered by the sobering reality that more than 30 million people across the country smoke.

Those smokers lead to half a million deaths each year, which is like nearly wiping out the entire state of Wyoming annually. We’ve had success but there is more work to do.