Where To Get Help When You Decide To Quit Smoking

Key Points

• Health care professionals can advise people about quitting smoking.
• The National Cancer Institute helps smokers quit.

1. Which health care professionals can help me quit smoking?

   Many health care professionals can be good sources of information about the health risks of smoking and the benefits of quitting. Talk to your doctor, dentist, pharmacist, or other health care provider about the proper use and potential side effects of nicotine replacement products and other medicines. They can also help you find local resources for assistance in quitting smoking. See the fact sheet How To Handle Withdrawal Symptoms and Triggers When You Decide To Quit Smoking.

2. How can I find out about national and local resources to help me quit smoking?

   NCI’s Smokefree.gov offers science-driven tools, information, and support that has helped smokers quit. You will find state and national resources, free materials, and quitting advice from NCI.

   Smokefree.gov was established by the Tobacco Control Research Branch of NCI, a component of the National Institutes of Health, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other organizations.

   Publications available from the Smokefree.gov Web site include the following:

   • Clearing the Air: Quit Smoking Today for smokers interested in quitting.
   • Clear Horizons for smokers over age 50.
   • Forever Free™  for smokers who have recently quit.
   • Forever Free for Baby and Me™, in English and Spanish, for pregnant smokers who have recently quit.
   • Pathways to Freedom: Winning the Fight Against Tobacco for African American smokers.

   NCI’s Smoking Quitline at 1–877–44U–QUIT (1–877–448–7848) offers a wide range of services, including individualized counseling, printed information, referrals to other resources, and recorded messages. Smoking cessation counselors are available to answer smoking-related questions in English or Spanish, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Eastern time. Smoking cessation counselors are also available through LiveHelp, an online instant messaging service. LiveHelp is available Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Eastern time.

   Your state has a toll-free telephone quitline. Call 1–800–QUIT–NOW (1–800–784–8669) to get one-on-one help with quitting, support and coping strategies, and referrals to resources and local cessation programs. The toll-free number routes callers to state-run quitlines, which provide free cessation assistance and resource information to all tobacco users in the United States. This initiative was created by the Department of Health and Human Services. For more information about quitlines, speak to an expert on the Smokefree.gov Web site.

3. How can I help someone I know quit smoking?

   It’s understandable to be concerned about someone you know who currently smokes. It’s important to find out if this person wants to quit smoking. Most smokers say they want to quit. If they don’t want to quit, try to find out why.

   Here are some things you can do to help:

   • Express things in terms of your own concern about the smoker’s health (“I’m worried about…”).
   • Acknowledge that the smoker may get something out of smoking and may find it difficult to quit.
   • Be encouraging and express your confidence that the smoker can quit for good.
   • Suggest a specific action, such as calling a smoking quitline, for help in quitting smoking.
   • Ask the smoker for ways in which you can provide support.

   Here are some things you should not do:

   • Don’t send quit smoking materials to smokers unless they ask for them.
   • Don’t blame or criticize the smoker for their addiction to tobacco.
   • Don’t criticize, nag, or remind the smoker about past failures.