Ready, Set, Quit! Five Ways your Pharmacist can help you Quit Smoking

This year, Ontarians can keep their new year's resolution to quit smoking – thanks to their pharmacist. The benefits of quitting are substantial; within 20 minutes of quitting, your blood pressure will return to normal. Within 48 hours, your senses of smell and taste will begin to come back to you. And at the next new year, one year later, the added risk of heart disease will have declined to half that of a smoker. Your local pharmacist can help you achieve all this. Eligible Ontarians on the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program – or 24 per cent of the province's almost two million smokers – have access to a pharmacy-based smoking cessation program, which launched in September 2011.

The Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Program

Pharmacists can assist any Ontarian who is looking to quit smoking to help them find resources and programs that would suit them best, but eligible patients on the ODB program have access to a pharmacy-based smoking cessation program that provides:

1. Initial assessment and consultation

2. Follow-up appointments

3. Counselling and support

4. Tools and resources

5. Advice on prescription drug therapy options and smoking cessation aids (when necessary)

“Pharmacist are the most accessible healthcare providers, and are a convenient and knowledgeable resource to help those who are ready to quit smoking this year,” said Sean Simpson, Chair of the Board of the Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA). “I would encourage any smoker who has resolved to quit this year to visit their pharmacist today and begin taking steps toward a healthier life.”

Earlier in 2015, the Health and Economic Impact of an Expanded Pharmacy Smoking Cessation Program in Ontario report was released by OPA, outlining that an expanded pharmacy smoking cessation program would provide to the province:

• An additional one per cent reduction in smoking rates (equal to approximately 90,000 smokers quitting by 2045);

• Significant reductions in the rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) over the next 30 years (6,000, 11,000 and 10,000 cases respectively);

• Close to 20,000 fewer emergency room visits, and 16,000 fewer hospitalizations as a result of smoking related disease;

• $3.1 billion in additional wage-based productivity.

“More than 10,000 Ontarians have sought one-on-one support from their pharmacist to quit smoking,” said Simpson. “About 28 per cent of those seeking help have successfully quit, which is on par with other healthcare smoking intervention programs; so we are seeing an impact the program is making on patients in real-time. By expanding the program to all Ontarians looking to quit smoking, pharmacists could have an even greater impact on smoking in this province.”

For more information on a pharmacy-based smoking cessation program that is right for you, visit www.opatoday.com, or talk with your local pharmacist.