Worldwide, one-billion people smoke cigarettes. Physicians, educators, health advocates, and governments have attempted to increase cessation and reduce cigarette uptake through taxation, labeling changes, marketing campaigns, and innumerable other efforts, all with very little impact. Yearly, less than 1% of smokers quit.
I completed my medical training in rural Indiana where 22% of the county's population smoked cigarettes. I know a tremendous amount about Chantix, Nicoderm, nicotine gum, bupropion, hypnosis, counseling, free resources … I have done handstands (metaphorically) trying to unlock the box that would help me help people quit. In my thirteen years as a primary care physician and forty-three years as a daughter of a smoker, I have had minimal to no success in aiding my patients and loved ones in cessation. This is not for a lack of trying, a lack of training nor a lack of time. The vast majority of people who I care for who smoke state they have no desire to quit.
