I was recently told that May 31 is World No Tobacco Day. Of course, in my world, every day is no tobacco day and the best day to quit smoking is today. Quitting smoking is obviously hard and most people have to try (and fail) multiple times before they break the habit for good. There's a reason Mark Twain supposedly said, "Quitting smoking is easy: I've done it thousands of times."
Telling someone to quit cold turkey is not the best strategy. There are a number of treatment options out there and we should be using them more than we currently do.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy
The mainstay of anti-smoking medical treatment is and probably will continue to be nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). NRT has a number of advantages, including a long track record of use, low price, and ease of access because in most places it is available without a prescription. But some people may still be concerned about the risks of nicotine replacement, especially in patients with a history of cardiac disease. The concern is based on the theoretical worry that nicotine is a stimulantand vasoconstrictor that can raise blood pressure and increase cardiac demand. But smoking is so bad for you that even a small risk associated with NRT would probably be outweighed by the benefits of quitting the habit.
