HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0942.119 2006-2008
Mar 10 08 10:21a Cara Sadira 1-866.8257496 p.1
Tobacco Education & Assistance Program
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Providing Free "Quit Smokng"Groups and tmerventim Training to Health Care Providers on Hawafl,Islmrd H r7;
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March 10, 2008 ri r. i+
Re: Support Letter for Bill 224
Aloha County Council Members, t
My name is Cara Sadira, and I am a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist. I run the Tobacco
Education & Assistance Program. I am writing to express my full support of regulating smoking on
beaches. I am in support of this proposed legislation out of concern for the smokers that I help to quit
smoking.
Current medical research has proven that smoking is NOT a habit; it is an addictive drug, absorbed by
the brain that makes the brain completely dependent. The brain changes that occur from nicotine
addiction do not go away. The brain remains permanently altered. For this "son, it is incredibly
difficult for smokers to quit smoking, for good. Relapse is often part of a smoker's life. To allow this
addictive drug to freely circulate through the air in public parks and beaches seriously affects the lives
of people who have gone through the incredibly difficult process of quitting smoking. While at the
park or beach, they are involuntarily exposed to the very addictive drug that they have worked so hard
to purge from their system. Once this drug again enters the system, the brain again conducts processes
in the manner of addiction (as the brain has already been altered from the original smoking addiction).
It is absolutely a consideration that ex-smokers in contact with tobacco smoke may be triggered to
again take up smoking, and again become addicted to this dangerous drug that claims 460,000 lives
annually in the U.S. For smokers, it is not a matter of dying from smoking; they all know that they will
die some-day. They are mostly concerned with the quality of life before they die. They are concerned
that they will be gasping for air, unable to breathe, with lungs collapsing from abuse, dependent upon
an oxygen tank, and unfortunately, cigarettes for proper brain and bodily function. They are also
concerned with the hold that the addiction has over them. They must have cigarettes in hand. They
must spend their hand-earned money, and they must engage in a process that they know is dangerous
for their health, just to have normal brain function.
On behalf of all of the smokers that I personally have worked very hard to help to quit, I am in strong
support of banning this dangerous addictive substance from all public parks and beaches.
Tjn~nk you,
a a Sadira
Cunlact Cara Sadin, Certified rohao Treannent Spccialisi ` Phone: (808) 557-4838 ' Fax: 1-866-8257496
e-mail cararkickthenic.nct ' Address: P.O. Box 2087, Keuau. Bt 96749
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