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Smokers cite costs at giveaway By VICKI GUARINO More popular than Santa Claus for a while, the American Lung Association's stop smoking give-away had crowds lined up at the Rogue Valley Mall Saturday. The association and Tobacco Free Jackson County gave away 250 sets of nicotine skin patches. The constant doses of nicotine are meant to slowly wean smokers off the toxic and addictive tobacco component, giving smokers a physical break to help them kick the habit. The manufacturer of the patches, Nicotrol, supplied its product for free here, and elsewhere around the state. The giveaway began shortly after 9 a.m. and the last set of skin patches was gone by 1 p.m. For a while, said Tobacco Free coordinator Jane Stevenson, the line of customers stretched past several stores on the mall's lower level. "I'm tired of the coughing and the hacking," said Larry Jones, Central Point, as he left with a bag of patches and a booklet describing some proven quitting strategies. "We're going to give it our best shot." Jones, 38, had his first cigarette when he was 15. He quit once, a couple of years ago, using skin patches. He stayed away from cigarettes for 11 months, until stress drove him back into the smoking habit in June. Like his 249 fellow smokers, Jones had to fill out a questionnaire to show that he had none of the allergies or health ailments that could cause problems. Also, recipients had to be at least moderate smokers -- smoking at least 10 cigarettes a day. Jones cleared that last hurdle with no problem. He said he smokes two or three packs a day. While health-care specialists like Stevenson and her companion in the giveaway, respiratory therapist Jeanette Martin, know the health cost of such a habit, many of their customers expressed concern about cost of another sort: Smoking has gotten expensive. Some customers said they pay more than $3 for a pack and more than $30 for a carton. Martin said that all morning long, people were telling her they wanted to quit because it has gotten too expensive. She said she hopes that maybe the expense will prompt more people to quit. But she cautioned those taking the patches to come up with plans to cope with the psychological aspects of their habit. Besides the information in brochures, Martin recommended a stop smoking class. For recorded information about all of the stop-smoking classes offered locally, call the Kick-Butts Hotline, 732-4875. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA