The ads highlight how addictive cigarettes are and that although smokers often think their smoking is just a habit which they can control, ...

The average British smoker is hooked on more than 5000 cigarettes a year*,says a hard-hitting government campaign due to air in the New Year.

The HOOK campaign adverts, which will launch on TV, outdoor billboards and online on 1 January, show smokers being violently seized by a fish-hook as they are dragged to their traditional smoking spots. The ads highlight how addictive cigarettes are and that although smokers often think their smoking is just a habit which they can control, the habit is actually controlling them.

The nicotine in cigarettes is a powerful and fast-acting drug which after entering a smokers bloodstream, affects their brain seven to 10 seconds later. It produces a nicotine rush which many smokers interpret as pleasure,but in reality is simply the relief of satisfying a craving for nicotine.

Public Health Minister Caroline Flint said:

"We know that many smokers will be considering stopping smoking in January as part of their New Year resolution and in advance of the smokefree legislation being implemented on 1 July 2007. These adverts highlight the controlling nature of tobacco. On average, British smokers consume 14 cigarettes a day, 5110 cigarettes a year. Smoking devastates hundreds of thousand of lives a year - killing 106,000 people each year in the UK - we want HOOK to encourage as many people as possible to stop smoking."

Professor Robert West, Professor of Health Psychology, University College London commented:

"Smoking is not just a habit - for many smokers its a complex and powerful addiction. The nicotine in cigarette smoke can be as addictive as heroin and crack cocaine. Although most smokers believe that cigarettes help them cope, the evidence shows that it makes things worse and that ex-smokers have lower stress levels than smokers who are constantly having to go through a cycle of withdrawal symptoms and smoking to relieve these.

"Talk of giving up smoking is actually quite wrong - by quitting tobacco and getting unhooked you are in fact gaining control and freeing yourself from lethal cycle of addiction. Recent research has found that 70% of ex-smokers say they are happier than when they were smoking and only 3% report being less happy."

The Department of Health says this campaign aims to motivate smokers to stop smoking and to encourage them to access the range of free NHS support available to help them get unhooked.

Caroline Flint said:

"Smoking is an addiction which makes quitting daunting and difficult. But there has never been more free help available on the NHS to get you unhooked. Thats why we are combining the Hook advertising with adverts that promote the range of help of NHS support, such as the NHS Stop Smoking Services."

Get unhooked. Call 0800 169 0 169 or visit getunhooked.co.uk

Seventy percent of smokers feel dependent on cigarettes. Of these, 27% feel very dependent on cigarettes.

Women feel more dependent on cigarettes than men - 74% compared to 66%. The more you smoke, the more likely you are to wish you werent so dependent on cigarettes - 84% of heavy smokers, 77% of medium smokers and 62% of light smokers wish they werent so dependent.

However the addiction can be beaten, and the campaign shows you how. There are now as many ex smokers as smokers in England (24% of adults currently smoke , 24% of adults have quit).

Stopping smoking is the single best thing you can do to improve your health - and the benefits are immediate. Just three days after quitting your sense of taste and smell will have returned, within three weeks your circulation will be better and within three months coughs, wheezing and breathing problems will have improved.

Since its launch it has received over 1 million calls. A year after first calling the NHS Smoking Helpline, nearly a quarter of callers said they had successfully given up and were still not smoking.

NHS Smoking Helpline advisors can refer callers to a local NHS Stop Smoking Service offering ongoing free face-to-face support and advice near their own home. There are over 170 throughout the country, offering a range of services including one-to-one meetings and group discussions with trained cessation advisors. Government research shows that smokers are up to four times more likely to give up successfully if they use their local NHS Stop Smoking Service together with NRT than they are if they use willpower alone.

Local NHS Stop Smoking Advisors meet smokers individually or as part of a group for an hour or two a week for six or seven weeks. Quitters usually spend the first two sessions planning and preparing to give up and then quit in the third week. NHS Stop Smoking Advisors are able to inform each quitter about NRT and Zyban, and can provide relevant treatments, for free or at low cost, on prescription. Many services have carbon monoxide monitors, so quitters are able to measure how quickly their bodies return to normal once they have stopped smoking. Many areas also run monthly relapse prevention meetings, or regular drop-in sessions for smokers who need ongoing help and assistance.

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