Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Smoking can cause cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 

When you quit smoking, your body begins healing within minutes. Quitting tobacco will help you feel healthier and reduce your risk for diseases. 

Washington State Quitline

The Quitline provides Washingtonians with confidential, one-on-one counseling from a Quit Coach. Some residents are eligible for free medication to help them quit smoking, vaping, or other tobacco. Get started here:  

• Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669)

• Visit quitline.com

• Text READY to 200-400.

• Spanish speakers can call: 1-855-DÉJELO-YA (1-855-335-3569)

• People with hearing impairments: 1-877-777-6534

• Veterans: 1-855-QUIT-VET (1-855-784-8838)

2Morrow Health smartphone app

2Morrow Health is a free, anonymous, self-guided program that teaches you how to deal with unhelpful thoughts, urges, and cravings caused by nicotine. You can create a profile, select a quit date, and track your progress in quitting vaping, smoking, or other tobacco use.

Asian Smokers' Quitline

The Asian Smokers' Quitline is a free nationwide quitline open Monday through Friday, from 7:00am to 9:00pm. This quitline has three different phone numbers:

• Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin) speakers call 1-800-838-8917.

• Korean speakers call 1-800-556-5564.

• Vietnamese speakers call 1-800-778-8440.

More help quitting:

• SmokeFree.gov

• American Lung Association: What to expect when quitting

Tobacco is a plant that is grown, dried out then shredded ready to be refined into different products. Tobacco can be made into cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, chew, snuff and a variety of products that can be smoked, snorted or dissolved orally. All tobacco products contain the addictive chemical, nicotine.  

• Tobacco contains the addictive chemical nicotine. 

• There is no ‘safe’ form of tobacco. 

• Tobacco smoke can contain over 5,000 different chemicals.

  • 70 of them cause cancer. 

• Smoking can cause lung damage, heart disease, stroke, infertility and 15 types of cancer.  

• Smokers are at higher risk of anxiety and developing depression over time. 

Nicotine is an addictive chemical that can be sourced from the tobacco plant or synthesized in a lab. 

• Nicotine is addictive. 

• Nicotine does not cause cancer, the other chemicals in smoke and vapor aerosols do. 

• Nicotine is present in all tobacco and synthetic products like: 

• Cigarettes 

• Cigars 

• E-cigarettes/Vapes 

• Hookahs 

• Chewing Tobacco 

• Pouches (aka Zyns) 

• Nicotine negatively impacts brain development for users under the age of 25 and result in poorer mental health.

E-cigarettes (vapes) deliver a high dose of nicotine. Over time, users develop an addiction that is harder to beat. 

• Vapes contain chemicals like lead, arsenic, aluminum, nickel, and formaldehyde among others. Often, these chemicals cause scarring to lung tissue making it harder to breath and can cause serious health problems, like cancer. 
  

• Vaping has given rise to a new injury called EVALI (E-Cigarette, or, Vaping Product Use-Associated Lung Injury). This is a life-threatening injury caused by inflammation and scarring of lung tissue. 
  

• Vapes do not emit water vapor, it produces a chemical aerosol contained in the e-juice. 
  

• Vapes can contain up to 30x more nicotine than 1 pack of cigarettes, nicotine makes vapes and tobacco addictive. 
  

• In the 2024:    

• Over 2.25 million youth reported current use of tobacco.    

• 1.5 million of those youth reported using e-cigarettes. 

• One in four of those youth use e-cigarettes daily. 

• Four in five of those youth use e-cigarettes that contain flavors.  
  

• Young adults who vape nicotine are six times more likely to start using cigarettes than those who do not vape at all. 
  

• “Non-nicotine” vapes are equally as harmful as regular vapes due to the unknown chemicals present.  
  

• Vapes are not an FDA approved smoking cessation aid.

Smokeless tobacco also known as oral products come in different forms and are sorted into two categories, “smokeless tobacco” and “nicotine pouches”. These products are placed in the mouth and nicotine is absorbed through the gums. Recreational oral products do not include, nicotine gums and lozenges as these are FDA approved smoking cessation aids.  

Smokeless Tobacco 

• Produced to be consumed by chewing, dissolving or in some cases snorted.  

• Known to cause cancer in the mouth, throat and pancreas. 

Nicotine Pouches 

• Recently introduced to the market in 2016, short- and long-term health effects are still being learned. 

• Has slowly taken over the oral product market where the most common product is “Zyn” 

• Pouches are preferred over smokeless tobacco due to ease of use, concealability, lowered harshness and flavors.  

• Recreational oral products are not an FDA approved smoking cessation aid.  

Washington State RCW 70.160 prohibits smoking in public places and workplaces. It requires smoking be a minimum distance of 25 feet from entrances, exits, windows and air intakes to prevent smoke from entering buildings. 

• How to adopt and implement RCW 70.160

• Learn more on our Smoking (and Vaping) in Public Places page.

Tell us if you see someone smoking or vaping in a public place or place of employment. 

Laws about selling tobacco and vapor products 

• Tobacco Access for Minors RCW 70.155 

• Vapor Products RCW 70.345 

• Report a violation to the Liquor and Cannabis Board if you witness a sale of tobacco or vaping products to customers under the age of 21. 

Education resource

Retail clerk education program developed by Public Health Seattle-King County

• This course is tailored to tobacco and vapor product retailers to help them understand their responsibility when selling these products to the public. 

We work to reduce the burden tobacco places on our community by:

• Helping you quit;

• Preventing youth from starting;

• Reducing your exposure to second-hand smoke. 

To learn more about our community's needs, read the Youth Cannabis & Commercial Tobacco Prevention Program (YCCTPP) 2024-2025 Needs Assessment here.

To learn more, email cdp@kitsappublichealth.org.