Consultant family medicine Director of Center of Postgraduate studies in Family Medicine

Tobacco dependence is a chronic condition that usually requires repeated intervention. Effective interventions exist that can produce long-term cessation at up to double the rate achieved by smokers without treatment. Because of the potential health benefits and availability of effective interventions every smoker should be offered intervention that at a stage involve pharmacotherapy. Because pharmacotherapies enhance the quit rates of most other cessation methods every smoker should be offered appropriate pharmacotherapy to support cessation attempts, unless contra-indicated.. A number of pharmacotherapies are effective and safe. Nicotine replacement therapy, Anti-depressants and other drugs are effective cessation aids. More intervention research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of other cessation methods such as acupuncture and hypnotherapy. Tobacco dependence meets accepted criteria for a drug dependence disorder. In most users, tobacco produces tolerance, a well-characterised withdrawal syndrome, and an inability to control future use (1).Thus tobacco dependence warrants medical treatmen