---

When Nancy Connors of Norfolk was in college more than 50 years ago, her girlfriends would play poker for cigarettes.

Although she was not a smoker, she would join in the games. But then, one thing led to another, and she picked up the habit.

Now 73, Connors quit smoking nearly two years ago after a few failed attempts and several embarrassing episodes.

There was the time in the non-smoking airport when she was so desperate for a cigarette she stood on a toilet to blow the smoke out the exhaust fan. The only problem was it was an automated flushing toilet and it kept flushing the whole time.

There was the party she attended and was craving a cigarette so badly that she could not hear a person talking to her from across a table. And there were the tricks she had to play to prevent her granddaughter from finding out she was smoking.

Finally, she took a cessation class at Caritas Norwood Hospital and has been smoke free since September of 2006.

"It is still a battle. The pull is so strong it is awful," she said.

But, Connors apparently has a lot of company in Massachusetts.

The state Department of Public Health reports that the smoking rate in Massachusetts took its biggest dip in history last year. Only 16.4 percent of Massachusetts adults now smoke, the lowest level ever recorded.

The Bay State now ranks fourth in the nation for fewest smokers.

"This is very exciting," said Eileen Sullivan, director of policy and planning for tobacco control at the Department of Public Health.

She said there is likely several reasons why the smoking rate saw its largest decline in 2007, but a leading reason may be the state's new universal health care system.

About 350,000 residents who use to lack health insurance are now covered under the new system, meaning they now have regular doctors who advise them to quit smoking and they have access to cessation programs.

Others reason include an increase in funding for state anti-smoking programs, the availability of free nicotine patches to help smokers to quit, smoke-free workplace laws, and more recently, a $1 increase in the cigarette tax. Joanne Fitzgerald, a nurse who runs smoking cessation classes at Norwood Hospital, said the high cost of cigarettes is one of the most commonly cited reasons by her students for wanting to quit.

"With the price of everything going up, people say they cannot afford to smoke," she said. A pack of cigarettes cost about $6.50.

"They say it is next to impossible to afford to smoke."

Sullivan said the state has stepped up efforts to combat smoking.

She said the budget for anti-smoking programs has been increased from $8 million a year to $12.75 million.

The budget pays for anti-cigarette advertising, quitting programs, free nicotine patches, a toll-free hot line at 1-800-trytostop and other programs.

Connors said she tried quitting smoking a few times and failed until taking Fitzgerald's course at Norwood Hospital.

"She is very encouraging. She would call every day to see how I was doing," Connors said of Fitzgerald.

The state statistics are no surprise to her.

When she got out of college it seemed like everyone smoked.

As the health risks of smoking became more known, there were not only fewer smokers, but fewer places were smoking was allowed, she said.

"It use to be very common and very accepted. Now none of my friends smoke," she said.

JIM HAND can be reached at 508-236-0399 or at jhand@thesunchronicle.com.