One pack of cigarettes, on average in Connecticut, costs about eight dollars and fifteen cents. One pack of cigarettes a day in Connecticut costs fifty seven dollars and five cents. One pack of cigarettes every day, for exactly one year, costs just about three- thousand dollars.  Smoking a single package of cigarettes a year is the equivalent to throwing away three thousand dollars that could have been spent on a first car, or a computer and phone, or even a college education. But, instead the money is spent on garbage.

However, a new research group, is looking to replenish the money wasted on the cigarettes in an attempt to stop young people from starting and stopping the bad habit.

T.R.Y, Tobacco Research in Youth, is a group from the Yale University School of Medicine visiting high schools to promote their program. Funded by the National Institutes of Heath, the Yale Researchers are looking for ways to help the youth generation quit smoking.

T.R.Y has developed a program that consists of three main components in a six- week period. During the first component, Smoking cessation counseling, participants will receive eight individual sessions where they will learn how to quit, how to cope, and how to avoid smoking again.

During the next component, Nicotine or Placebo Patch, the participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the Nicotine or Placebo patch. Depending on the amount the youth smokes, a dosage will be given. Until their planned quit day, a member from the research group will meet everyday with the participant to discuss side effects and establish which patch works better for which person.

In the last component, participants are rewarded incentives for attending and wear the patch. Throughout the program, if participation requirements are hit, participants can earn up to two- hundred seventy dollars by just taking part through the course of the program.

From there, participants will also be rewarded up to four hundred eight dollars if all counseling sessions are attended to. But, in order to receive these incentives, T.R.Y collects metabolic urine samples each week. If the test comes back negative, the incentives begin to increase.

The research is completely confidential and it is completely voluntary. It can help students quit the habits and it can help parents educate their children on the dangers of smoking.

For more information, contact the T.R.Y staff at (203) 974-7555