Smoking Cessation means beating tobacco dependence by quitting smoking.

Tobacco dependence is considered to be a chronic condition that usually requires repeat intervention. 70% of the smokers in the United States today have tried to quit smoking at least once. Most smokers make several quit attempts before they successfully kick the habit.

Current recommended smoking cessation treatments include nicotine replacement therapies (NTRs) in the form of gum, inhaler, nasal spray, and patch ("the patch"), as well as the pharmacotherapy, Bupropian.

Person-to-person or over the phone treatments are an important part of a quit process. These may include counselling, cessation group social support, and support from family and friends.

The benefits of quitting smoking are both immediate and long term. The former smoker's risk of stroke will begin to decrease steadily. He or she will have lower risk for illnesses such as colds, flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia; will cough less; feel less tired and less short of breath; and have less congestion.

One year after quitting smoking, a person's risk of coronary heart disease, characterized by heart attack decreases by half.

Ten years after quitting smoking, a person's risk of lung cancer drops to nearly half that of a smoker.

Smokers who quit before or early stages of pregnancy reduce their risk of miscarriage or of having a low birth-weight baby. Smokers who quit before or early in pregnancy reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in their babies.

Ready, Set, Go!

Get ready to quit--Set a quit date and get rid of all cigarrettes and smoking paraphenalia in your home, car, and workplace. Replace them with objects such as beads, stones, or marbles that can keep your hands occupied while you quit.

Review your past quit attempts. What helped you stay quit as long as you did? What caused problems for you? What led you to relapse?

Rally support. Tell your relatives and friends you're quitting. Ask for their support and ask them not to smoke around you or offer you cigarrettes.

If your state has one, call a tobacco quit line and talk to a phone counselor about quitting.

Talk to your clinician. Ask him or her to support a nicotine replacement therapy right for you. The following treatments are currently recommended as smokin cessation aids, nicotine gum, nicotine inhaler, nicotine nasal spray, and nicotine patch ("the patch"). Buproprion SR is another treatment available, but must be administered by a physician.

Get involved in a smoking cessation support group at your clinic, tribal or community center. Social support will increase your likelihood of quitting and staying quit.

Get involved in a smoking cessation program. One successful American Indian specific program is "Sacred Wind". For more information or to get a copy of this curriculum, contact Cynthia Goodman-Tainpeah at Muscogee (Creek) Nation (918) 756-6231. (Please Note: The brochure does not have this updated-use this number to contact their program)

For Clinicians

Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition that often requires repeated intervention.

Brief tobacco dependence treatment is effective, and every patient who uses tobacco should be offered at least brief treatment. There is a strong dose-response relation between the intensity of tobacco dependence counseling and its effectiveness.

Because effective tobacco dependence treatments are available, every patient who uses tobacco should be offered a first or second parmacotherapy combined with counseling or behavior therapy whenever possible.

It is estimated that clinicians and health care delivery systems (including administrators, insurers, and purchasers) institutionalize the consistent identification, documentation, and treatment of every tobacco user seen in a health care setting.

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