Quit Smoking
You can greatly reduce your lung cancer risk by quitting smoking.
Kick It California — a partnership between researchers at Moores Cancer Center and the California Department of Health — offers telephone counseling and other free services, including chat, supportive text messaging and self-help materials to help you quit smoking.
How Kick It California Works
Visit kickitca.org to choose from a range of services, including special programs for teens, pregnant women and tobacco chewers. If you choose telephone counseling, you can begin your first counseling session immediately. Counselors will help you develop a plan and set a quit date. They follow up with shorter calls in the coming weeks to keep you on track. They can help you with everything from withdrawal symptoms to pharmacotherapy issues.
Even if you relapse, a counselor can discuss the situation that triggered the relapse, and help you set a new plan and quit date.
Some callers may qualify for free nicotine patches. Studies show that smokers who use this type of counseling are twice as likely to quit as those who don't.
Educational Videos to Help You Quit
Watch our best advice in this video series.
Get Started
Ready to quit or thinking about it? Visit Kick It California.
Or call us:
- English: 800-300-8086
- Spanish: 800-600-8191
- Korean: 800-556-5564
- Vietnamese: 800-778-8440
- Mandarin and Cantonese: 800-838-8917
Lung Cancer Screening
Early detection for smokers
If you are a current or former smoker, you are at higher risk for lung cancer. Special screening services offered at UC San Diego Health can help detect cancer early when it is most responsive to treatment.
Program History
Kick It California, formerly known as the California Smokers' Helpline, was established in 1992 by Moores Cancer Center researchers and was the first in the nation to offer free services for tobacco users wanting to quit. Kick It California has served as a model for similar services in all 50 states.
