Smoking cessation represents the best health intervention in terms of years added to life, reduction of serious diseases (cancer, heart disease, stroke, COPD and more), benefit to the exchequer and society, and that is before considering the benefits of reducing second-hand smoke. Also, as smoking is a driver of widening socio-economic disparities, quitting is a way of reducing health inequalities. Finally, a Tobacco Free Ireland is, in fact, current government policy, with an adventurous target for Ireland to be tobacco-free by 2025. The 2022 National Clinical Guidelines for Smoking advise that all healthcare professionals routinely ask for advice about the harms of smoking and the benefits of cessation. Behavioural supports such as Brief Motivation Interviewing, group therapy as provided by the HSE and others, phone or text messaging services, as well as medical treatments such as Nicotine Replacement Therapy can all significantly increase quit rates. Vaping is not recommended for smoking cessation.

Tobacco smoking remains a leading cause of death and disability globally. In Ireland, approximately 17% of Irish adults smoke, which translates to approximately 665,000 smokers. Smoking remains a major public health issue as half of smokers will die from a smoking-related disease; in reality, this translates to 100 people in Ireland dying and 1,000 people being hospitalised per week. This has a major detrimental effect on Irish health services and all aspects of Irish life. In 2016, the estimated annual cost of smoking to the health service was €460 million, and the total annual cost was €10.7 billion.

 The good news is that quitting smoking can have profound positive effects on all aspects of health. Furthermore, most smokers want to quit, and approximately half have attempted quitting in the last year. 

Smoking is linked to an increased risk of several cancers, including;

• Lung
• Head and neck 
• Oesophagus
• Stomach
• Liver
• Breast
• Bowel
• Bladder

Tobacco smoke contains over 4000 chemicals, of which many are carcinogenic, e.g., benzene, formaldehyde, ammonia, arsenic, cyanide, etc., as well as tar, addictive nicotine and poisonous carbon monoxide.