Grant from Madison could help a stop-smoking campaign in area

County board still must approve plan

One out of every three adults who has mental illness is also a smoker.

Scientists are still looking for an exact connection between the two.

But the numbers would seem to point to kicking the habit as being a good thing. That, however, wasn’t always the case.

La Crosse County health educator Paula Silha says doctors used to think there was no harm in letting those patients continue smoking.

“Now they’re saying ‘No,'” Silha said. “All recovery is better when you’re off of all substances. Tobacco shouldn’t be used as the crutch that helps people through that other recovery process.”

Silha is working on a stop-smoking program for the mentally ill in the La Crosse area, which would be funded with a $14,000 grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Silha also wants to do an experiment that’s been tried at UW.

“They have piloted a program in Dane County where they looked at integrating tobacco cessation treatment in other forms of treatments,” she explained. “Specifically, people who are receiving treatment for mental health issues or substance use or abuse or recovering.”

Silha says scientists don’t know why mentally ill people smoke more than the general population, but there’s a theory that those patients might use tobacco as a crutch to deal with their illness.

Silha’s campaign could last for up to a year, but the county board still has to approve it.