UCSD Researchers Call Attention to Differences Between Science and Policy on National Smoking Cessation Strategy

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are calling attention to a major discrepancy between the scientific evidence base and national policy on smoking cessation, according to a press release issued by the university. The researchers, led by Dr. John Pierce, are pointing out that while most smokers who have successfully quit have done so unaided, national cessation policy discourages unaided quitting and in fact insists that every smoker be treated with a drug, a strategy which the UCSD researchers say destroys smokers' confidence in their ability to quit and undermines smoking cessation in the long-run. This perspective is
summarized in a review article published in the 2012 Annual Review of Public
Health.