AN appeal has been issued to diabetes sufferers in East Lancashire who smoke to consider ditching the demon weed.

Medics from Lancashire Care are advising people with the condition to consider joining their ‘quit squads’ in a bid to ease their symptoms, whether they smoke, vape or use chewing tobacco.

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Not only would the move reduce the side-effects of diabetes but lessen the possibility of contracting cardio-vascular disease, lung disease, cancers or having a stroke.

Quit Squad spokesman Helen Hatcher said: “Everyone risks damaging their health through smoking a cigarette, pipe or cigar. But for people with diabetes the risk may be even greater.

“If you have diabetes, you already have an increased chance of developing cardiovascular disease, such as a heart attack, stroke or circulatory problems in the legs.

“Combine this with smoking, which can also double your risk of complications, and you make the chances of developing these diseases even higher.”

One ex-smoker, Geoff McDonald, a 30 to 40 a day smoker for nearly 50 years, is backing the call. He is now taking the medication Champix.

He said: “If I had known it was available, then I would have tried it years ago. I think that it’s been so easy to give up that I still haven’t realised that I have stopped.

“It has literally taken me four to five days to stop and now I have stopped I have no desire to smoke.”