How to Quit Smoking

Quitting is important for anyone who smokes tobacco — even people who have smoked for many years. For people who already have cancer, quitting may reduce the chance of getting another cancer. Quitting also can help cancer treatments work better.

There are many ways to get help:

Ask your doctor about medicine or nicotine replacement therapy, such as a patch, gum, lozenge, nasal spray, or inhaler. Your doctor can suggest a number of treatments that help people quit.

Ask your doctor to help you find local programs or trained professionals who help people stop using tobacco.

Call staff at NCI’s Smoking Quitline (1-877-44U-QUIT) or instant message them through LiveHelp. They can tell you about:

Ways to quit smoking;
Groups that help smokers who want to quit;
NCI publications about quitting smoking;
How to take part in a study of methods to help smokers quit.

Go online to Smokefree.gov, a Federal Government Web site. It offers a guide to quitting smoking and a list of other resources.