Nov. 18 is the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, the day tens of thousands of Minnesotans usually try to quit smoking for a day.

While smoking is certainly a personal choice, we urge smokers to give the habit a break for a day &045; if not for themselves, for their families.

According to statistics, one in seven Minnesota deaths is linked to tobacco use, and Minnesotans spend an estimated $1.6 billion annually in health care expenses for tobacco-related diseases.

Fortunately, Minnesota smokers keep trying to quit. According to the 2003 Minnesota Adult Tobacco Survey, 56 percent of Minnesota adult tobacco users attempted to quit smoking in the last year.

But we realize smoking is addictive, and quitting is something people have to take one day at a time. Often a smoker can’t do it alone. That’s why smoking-cessation programs are so important, and those who often can’t find relief in one way can often find it with support from others.

The U.S. Surgeon General has stated, “Smoking cessation (stopping smoking) represents the single most important step that smokers can take to enhance the length and quality of their lives.”

For decades the Surgeon General has reported the health risks associated with smoking. Regardless of your age or smoking history, there are advantages to quitting smoking. Benefits apply whether you are healthy or you already have smoking-related diseases. In 1990, the Surgeon General concluded:

– Quitting smoking has major and immediate health benefits for men and women of all ages. Benefits apply to people with and without smoking-related disease.

– Former smokers live longer than continuing smokers. For example, people who quit smoking before age 50 have one-half the risk of dying in the next 15 years compared with continuing smokers.

– Quitting smoking decreases the risk of lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke, and chronic lung disease.

– Women who stop smoking before pregnancy or during the first 3 to 4 months of pregnancy reduce their risk of having a low birth weight baby to that of women who never smoked.

– The health benefits of quitting smoking far exceed any risks from the average 5-pound weight gain or any adverse psychological effects that may follow quitting.

Tomorrow is one day, and we hope that those smokers who are successful at leaving it behind for that one day will try again the next, and the next, until they are free from it.