Today being The Great American Smoke Out nine hospital across West Virginia are changing policies to make their campuses smoke free zones.

Camden-Clark Memorial and St. Joseph's hospitals are two of the nine in leading the pack.

Jack Julius Interim CEO of St. Joseph's talks about the importance of this policy, "Tobacco use whether it's smoking or other tobacco products is a leading cause of what is really preventable diseases."

Health Department Officials conclude that cigarettes are 30 percent more addictive than crack cocaine.

Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department Carrie Brainard, talks about the addiction, "It's not only a habit it's an addiction but we just want people to know that were there to help them we can do whatever we can to help them quit and it's important to your community to show we do care about the health of our community."

Approximately 3900 West Virginians die each year due to smoking related causes and both Camden-Clark and St. Joseph's wants to see that number decrease.

Camden-Clark's CEO Mike King says, "We are taking steps to try to address and support folks through this process we would like to see them stop smoking so we are offering Nicorettee gum in various locations and smoking sensation classes. We want this to be a supportive process not an antagonist process."

Both hospitals would like citizens to be positive and patient until the smoke clears.