Tobacco Cessation

If you use tobacco and are ready to quit, UMMC offers resources to help. Our ACT Center for Tobacco Treatment, Education, and Research provides free assistance to Mississippians trying to stop smoking or other tobacco use.

ACT Center for Tobacco Treatment, Education, and Research

Located at the Jackson Medical Mall, ACT Center counselors and physicians have years of experience fighting tobacco use. These specialists design a treatment plan to meet your needs, increasing the likelihood you will quit and stay tobacco-free.

Counseling services and medications are all FDA-approved, funded by the Mississippi Legislature and Mississippi State Department of Health, and free for Mississippi residents.
For up to one year, counselors will meet with you to help you stay on track and to monitor or adjust medications as needed.
About 150 new clients visit the ACT Center and its satellite locations each month. Of that, 40 to 45 percent are tobacco free 6 to 12 months later.

If you are ready to quit using tobacco, visit act2quit.org or call (601) 815-1180.

The costs of smoking

According to research collected by the American Lung Association, smoking costs Mississippians millions of dollars every year.

The average smoker in Mississippi smokes 512 packs of cigarettes per year—a cost of over $2,500 per smoker, per year.
The average cost of cigarettes on the state's economy is $13.43 per pack for smoking-related healthcare, lost productivity, and premature death.
Paid by the smokers, families, businesses, and tax payers of Mississippi, that's a total economic cost of nearly $3.5 million every year.

Save more by quitting

According to research provided by the American Lung Association, tobacco treatment programs provide a great return on investment. Quitting can save a smoker thousands of dollars every year—and that's only counting cigarette purchases, not the healthcare costs associated with smoking or other tobacco use.

Every year, smoking cessation programs like those offered by the ACT Center can save Mississippi:

$660 million on workplace productivity losses
$1 billion in smoking-related healthcare costs
$3.5 billion in smoking-related costs to the state economy