Rankin County resident and 50-year-old Cissy Jones smoked menthol cigarettes for over 20 years.
“I started when I was 16. I was young, dumb and those menthol cigarettes just tasted better.”
Tobacco companies add menthol to cigarettes so that they feel less harsh, which makes them more appealing to young people. The attractiveness of menthol is compounded by the fact it is more addictive. Currently, menthol is the only allowable cigarette flavoring under federal law.
Tobacco companies continue to market menthol cigarettes in poor and underserved communities. Mississippi has the fifth-highest rate of smoking in the nation, and the majority of menthol smokers in the state are African-American.
The chemicals found in menthol interact in the brain to enhance nicotine’s addictive effects, making it harder to quit. Black Mississippians who smoke menthol cigarettes are more likely to experience health consequences, such as heart attack, stroke and lung cancer because of preexisting health disparities as shown in the data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While tobacco use has dropped off over the last 20 years, use of menthol cigarettes within groups of smokers has continued to increase, according to the CDC.
“I only quit seven or eight years ago,” said Cissy. “Had they taken menthol off the market, I would have quit a lot sooner. I just couldn’t smoke those regular ones. And it’s too easy, my drug was on every corner.”
The Mississippi State Department of Health offers free options for those who are ready to quit.
Our “Ready. Set. Quit” program has a hotline you can call. 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
“We are real people who are ready to help!” said Kathryn Allman, director of the Mississippi Tobacco-Free Coalition of Choctaw, Montgomery and Webster counties.
Cissy is glad she quit.
“I can breathe now and I don’t stink. I’ve got freedom from the addiction,” she said.
For more information visit healthyms.com/tobacco. For help with quitting, visit quitlinems.com, or call the Mississippi Tobacco Quitline at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
