Smokers told to quit habit and become “Winners

June 6, 2021 Metro BLISTT

Baguio City June 5, 2021 – “If before, we have a saying that goes, ‘quitters are losers’, now with the city’s smoke-free program, its ‘quitters are winners’. Be a winner by quitting smoking and vaping for you and your loved ones’ health.”
Thus, declared councilor Joel Alangsab during flagraising rites at City Hall, May 31, in the city’s celebration of World No Tobacco Day with the theme, “Commit to Quit”, in response to reports that
smokers were more likely to develop severe coronavirus- 2019 symptoms compared to non-smokers.
Alangsab chairs the local legislature’s committee on health and is principal author of the Smoke-Free Baguio ordinance that prohibits and penalizes smoking and vaping, among others, in the Summer Capital.
“The covid-19 pandemic has led to millions of tobacco users to smoke at home thus exposing their family members to the ill effects of second and third hand smoke. Others, because of economic difficulty, have thought of wanting to quit,” he said. This year’s campaign, “Commit to Quit”, aims to support people as they try to give up tobacco for good, the alderman added.
Alangsab warned that nicotine found in tobacco is highly addictive and creates dependence where the behavioral and emotional ties to tobacco use makes it difficult to break the habit as smokers look for reasons to smoke rather than quit.
He said that quitting tobacco is challenging especially with the added social and economic stresses brought about by the pandemic. Worldwide, he added, around 780 million people expressed willingness to quit the deadly habit but only 30 percent have access to the tools that can help them do so.
“This is what we want to strengthen in Baguio, to build adequate support that we hope will be able to help those who would like to quit the deadly habit,” Alangsab said. For his part, councilor Levy Lloyd Orcales, Sanggunian Kabataan-Baguio Federation chairman, committed the youth sector’s full support in the campaign to make Baguio a smoke-free city.
Gaby B. Keith/ABN