PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia has the highest smoking rate of any big city in the U.S. An estimated 300,000 Philadelphians are smokers and the health department wants to do something about it.  

Health Commissioner Donald Schwarz says the city was awarded federal stimulus money to help them quit:

“You’ll call the state quit line and the state quit line will offer you counseling about quitting and a packet that includes nicotine replacement, things like patches”

Dr. Schwarz says it’s much easier to quit if you have counseling and nicotine replacement and he believes thousands of Philadelphians will be able to quit with this help.

The state quit line number is 1-800 QUIT-NOW.

Reported by: Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio