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Anti-Smoking Therapies

Is Harm Reduction a Viable Alternative to Smoking Cessation?

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Abstract

Smoking cessation should be proposed to all smokers by healthcare workers; however, severely dependent smokers are frequently unable or unwilling to quit smoking. For some of them, particularly if they have failed in previous cessation attempts and have smoking-related disorders, a long term reduction of tobacco consumption may be proposed as the ‘second best’ attitude and may offer a perspective for reduction of some of the risk factors associated with smoking. This attitude, which cannot be regarded as a general health policy, usually requires the prolonged use of nicotine replacement therapy. From available studies, it does not seem that a period of sustained smoking reduction decreases the chance of future cessation, it may even increase it.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Medical Policlinic, rue César-Roux 19, CH-1005, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Jean-Pierre Zellweger

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  1. Jean-Pierre Zellweger
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Correspondence to Jean-Pierre Zellweger.

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Zellweger, JP. Anti-Smoking Therapies. Drugs 61, 1041–1044 (2001). https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-200161080-00001

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/00003495-200161080-00001

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