The American Legacy Foundation, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and a coalition of state and national health organizations have launched "EX," a national public-health campaign aimed at helping smokers quit, the Winston-Salem Journal reported April 1.

The campaign includes a website, www.becomeanex.org and other resources, including a forum where people who want to quit can get advice from former smokers. "Most smokers who want to quit do not understand what it takes to conquer their nicotine addiction, or they underestimate how powerful that addiction can be," said Cheryl Healton, president of the American Legacy Foundation. "The approach provided by EX changes that equation by showing them how they can quit -- namely by combining coaching, pharmacotherapy and social support -- so that smokers have the support that they need at the times when they're most likely to crave a cigarette and smoke."

State health officials said that EX will compliment quitlines and other resources already established to help smokers. "There are tobacco users who will be more likely to use a telephone quit line, some who will be more likely to use an online service, and some who will use both," said Sally Malek, head of the Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch at the North Carolina health department. "If North Carolina smokers want to set up their own support group online, they have that opportunity."

Some smoking-prevention officials, however, said websites like EX already exist online and that most smokers quit on their own.