The Great American Smokeout

The Great American Smokeout is celebrated in the month of November on Thursday 21 , 2002. The ATOD Prevention Center and the UMES Peer Education Network will sponsor an informational table in the SSC from 10 am- 4 pm in recognition of the Great American Smokeout.

History of the Great American Smokeout

Over twenty-five years ago, the American Cancer Society started the Great American Smokeout as an annual day to spotlight the dangers of smoking and challenge people to stop using tobacco. The idea for the Great American Smokeout grew out of a 1971 event, when Massachusetts resident Arthur P. Mullaney asked people to give up smoking for a day and donate the money they would have spent on cigarettes to a local high school. Eventually this idea caught on, and on November 18, 1976, the California division of the American Cancer Society successfully prompted nearly one million smokers to quit for the day. The California event marked the first Smokeout, and the Society took it nationwide in 1977.

Today, an estimated 47 million US adults smoke. Tobacco use can cause lung cancer, as well as other cancers, heart disease, and respiratory disease; and each year smoking is responsible for one of five deaths. Every year the Great American Smokeout is celebrated on the third Thursday in November. It is anticipated that millions of Americans will chose to quit smoking for the day or longer on Thursday, November 21, 2002.

For more information on the Great American Smokeout, contact the local American Cancer Society Office (410) 749-1624 or via the Internet at www.cancer.org