Jon O. Ebbert, M.D.

Mayo Clinic's unique tobacco program brings hope for long-term addiction

Thomas Bennett had tried to quit chewing tobacco 75 to 100 times before he came to Mayo Clinic. Even a precancerous lesion in his mouth hadn’t stopped him. Before every doctor’s appointment, “I’d throw my can of chew out, she would say I don’t have cancer, and then I would go get a can of chew again,” Thomas recalls. “That’s how strong my addiction was.” It was in April 2021 that Thomas joined Mayo Clinic’s…