Kicking the nicotine habit

Abstract

More than 20 years have elapsed since the Surgeon General released the landmark report that causally linked cigarette smoking to lung cancer and other diseases. During that time, the percentage of smokers in the United States has dropped from 42% to about 33%, according to the US Public Health Service, and per capita cigarette consumption has dropped similarly. Despite the continually mounting evidence of smoking's ill effects, 60 million Americans continue to smoke. One potentially effective approach to smoking cessation, according to Dr Fletcher, remains virtually untried—a collective effort by all physicians to help patients quit.