More Seek Help to Stop Smoking

(Little Rock, AR) -- Arkansas state health officials say call volume has increased dramatically to the health department's smoking cessation helpline.

Arkansas recently implemented an extra 56-cent tobacco tax to pay for a statewide trauma system.
The health department tells legislators they need another one-million dollars to run Akansas' hotline.

The number of calls to the line have jumped more than 200-percent since the tax took effect.

The health department expects another jump in call volume when a new 61-cent federal tax hits cigarette sales on April 1.

Governor Mike Beebe says he hoped the state tax would prompt some people to give up the habit.