Tobacco Dependence Treatment: Pharmacist’s Role

Smoking prevalence and tobacco-related mortality have steadily declined in the recent decades. However, the use of e-cig and other nicotine containing products used for smoking cessation and other reasons is on the rise. Chronic use of tobacco products leads to serious health issues, yet a limited number of pharmacotherapies are available to treat smoking-related disorders. These pharmacotherapies in some cases are not effective or cause similar side effects as nicotine. Recently, with the inception of SB 493, pharmacists are authorized to be actively involved in smoking cessation. For example, California’s legislature granted pharmacists authority to furnish FDA-approved nicotine replacement therapies through SB 493. Thus, pharmacists must complete a training course approved by the board of pharmacy, as well as annual continuing education on tobacco cessation to be able to make the appropriate decision which product to choose for their patients. In this review, we attempted to review the available pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation and discuss the role that pharmacists play to help patients benefit from these products