Many students have taken advantage of the free nicotine patches and gum available at the University Health Center over the past few months, and some of those students have even kicked the smoking habit altogether.
Paula Staight, director of health education at the health center, said that more than 120 students have received the free nicotine products since fall 2003 and that the health center is currently looking over the data to determine how many of those students have gone on to quit smoking.
The health center received a two-year grant in March 2003 from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle to provide free nicotine replacement therapy to University students.
The Oregon Survey Research Laboratory found that 22 percent of University students smoke, which includes casual smoking, tobacco chew, pipes and cigars, according to a survey of 405 randomly chosen students.
Out of the student smokers, 80 percent have considered quitting and 69 percent have tried to quit before.
Second-year law student Brian Schmonsees quit smoking because of the free nicotine patches at the health center.
“The patch being free makes it a lot easier to quit,” he said. “The patch will get rid of your need to smoke.”
Schmonsees had been a smoker for 10 years and had tried to quit four times previously, but he said he thinks he’ll be able to stay a non-smoker now because of the free nicotine patches.
“The patch is wonderful,” he said. “The only hard part is that you’re still mentally hooked.”
He said that it becomes difficult because the body doesn’t want to smoke but the mind thinks it needs to.
Staight agreed and said that casual smoking at bars or with friends is still smoking.
“We try to remind students that you either smoke or you don’t smoke,” she said.
She added that habitual smoking can make it even more difficult to quit because people are used to smoking while they drive, during lunch or while out drinking with friends.
Students who want to quit smoking can visit the peer health educators at the health center to discuss ways and reasons to quit, Staight said.
Several of the peer educators work specifically with tobacco cessation and can provide students with the nicotine products.
Each prescription for the nicotine patch lasts for two weeks, while the gum lasts for about one week. Once a student runs out of nicotine products, he or she must make an appointment for another dose.
Since the health center has a limited amount of nicotine products available, there will be limits on how much students can receive.
Staight said that on average a student will be allowed five boxes of the nicotine patches, depending on the student’s level of smoking.
Students who are heavy smokers start on level one, which has 21 milligrams of nicotine. Other students may start on level two with 14 milligrams, or level three with 7 milligrams. The nicotine gum comes in 2 or 4 milligram doses, with the choice of orange or mint flavor.
Staight believes that limiting the amount of gum and patches students can receive will mentally help them try harder to quit and prevent them from being addicted to the products.
“They need to be weaning themselves off,” she said.