Kicking the smoking habit can be a difficult challenge. So, the State is helping out by offering smokers professional counselling. A new tobacco quitline is now up and running. Anyone calling 1-800-QUIT-NOW will be connected to a counsellor who will spend 20 or 30 minutes talking to a smoker who wants to butt out. The State Health Department’s Nanci Gonder says Missouri has more than a million smokers and about half tried to quit during the last year. While smoking cessation is a primary reason for the quitline, the counsellors will also help people who want to stop using other forms of tobacco.