Studies have shown that the chemical soup the U.S. government allows cigarette manufacturers to put in cigarettes make them as addictive as heroin or cocaine.

Makes sense them that the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that of the roughly 18 percent of women that smoke in the U.S., 75 percent say they want to quit but can’t, with nearly half those reporting they had tried during the previous year.

Studies show that women who stop smoking greatly reduce their risk of dying prematurely. Smoking cessation reduces the excess risk of coronary heart disease, no matter at what age women stop smoking. The risk is substantially reduced within 1 or 2 years after they stop smoking.

The increased risk for stroke associated with smoking begins to reverse after women stop smoking, and former smokers have the same stroke risk as nonsmokers after 5 to 15 years.