California Pharmacists Expand Their Role in Helping Consumers Become Tobacco Free; California Pharmacists Join the Smokers' Helpline Campaign to Help Consumers Quit Smoking.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2004

Today, the California Pharmacists Association (CPhA), the California Smokers' Helpline and Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer came together to promote the California Pharmacists Take Charge campaign. This new campaign has been designed so that pharmacists can offer consumers the opportunity to quit smoking through a free, tobacco quit-line. Pharmacists throughout California placed a Ready to Quit Smoking counter stand and 100 Take Charge cards in their pharmacies to help launch the campaign.

"Pharmacists are one of the nation's most accessible health care providers, so it makes perfect sense that we should do everything in our power to help consumers become smoke free," said Michael Negrete, PharmD, and Vice President of Clinical Affairs for the California Pharmacists Association. "Each year approximately 440,000 people die of tobacco related deaths. The Smokers' Helpline is a proven program that has helped consumers kick the habit for good."

The California Smokers' Helpline has served more than 300,000 Californians since its inception in 1992. The program is a statewide, FREE, scientifically proven smoking quit-line. All services are provided over the telephone and include a choice of self-help materials, a local tobacco cessation resource listing, and counseling over the phone.

"Our clinical trials have shown that quitters who have the support of a telephone counselor are twice as successful, as a group, than those who quit on their own," said Christopher Anderson, program director for the Helpline.

"Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and studies show that 70% of smokers actually want to quit the habit," said Assembly Majority Leader Dario Frommer. "We need to make sure that the tools they need to quit this life-threatening addiction is as easily accessible as possible."

The California Smokers' Helpline is funded through the Department of Health Services by Prop. 99 and Prop. 10 tobacco taxes and operates out of the University of California, San Diego.

CPhA, the largest state pharmacist association in the United States, has been an ardent supporter of a tobacco free environment and has created policy discouraging the sale of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages in a pharmacy or pharmacy department.

The mission of CPhA is to act as the leader in advocating the role of the pharmacist as an essential provider of health care and to support pharmacists in providing optimal pharmaceutical care. To learn more about CPhA, log onto www.cpha.com.