EX-SMOKER HELPING SENIORS SNUFF THE HABIT.

Byline: JEAN RUSSELL VOGEL

``If I did it, you can do it!'' is Dave Wallace's message to local cigarette addicts who participate in the programs he leads to help them kick the habit.

A Westlake Village resident, Wallace put 35 years of smoking behind him in 1980, and has since become a part of the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and other organizations to combat smoking.

In a 9 to 10 a.m. appearance Wednesday at Moorpark Senior Center headlined ``Smoking Cessation - Let's Do It,'' Wallace will explain what programs are available to East Ventura County seniors who want to break the habit.

Wallace says that most habitual smokers started in their teens, as he did while growing up in Connecticut. The average age for those enrolled in the ACS ``Fresh Start'' series, which he facilitates, is 47, well past youth's convictions of invulnerability.

During their 30 years of smoking, Wallace said, the initial physical addiction and peer pressure aspects of smoking are succeeded by its psychological association with daily habits.

A licensed facilitator for the ALA's ``Freedom from Smoking'' series, Wallace also leads a Nicotine Anonymous support group in eastern Ventura County. He has observed that more women enroll in programs to combat smoking, although men smokers outnumber them.

In Los Angeles County, Wallace volunteers in the Veterans Administration's nicotine patch program, which is available to veterans as outpatients. At an inner-city high school he has conducted a six-week series for students attempting to stop smoking.

Wallace gives counseling on a one-to-one basis and has been a moderator for Smokenders. He urges smokers to consider, in addition to the health costs, the dollar drain of buying cigarettes. He estimates that his 35 years as a smoker had cost him thousands of dollars.

Although not all who try succeed in breaking the smoking habit, the tobacco industry is losing 3,000 customers a day, the total of smokers who quit and those who die, according to Jerry Leavitt of the American Lung Association's Ventura County staff.

Wallace is spokesman for the Great American Smoke-Out in Ventura County. The annual one-day national event is conducted locally by the American Cancer Society of Ventura County and will be Nov. 21.

Between now and then Wallace will be urging smokers to promise themselves 24 hours of nonsmoking. ``Stop puffing and smell the flowers'' is his greeting for Smoke-Out day.

There is no charge for Wallace's program Wednesday. The Moorpark Senior Center is at 799 Moorpark Ave., 529-6864, Ext. 261.

For help for smokers of all ages in breaking the habit, call ACS, [phone], or ALA, [phone].