Preguntas y respuestas en tabaquismo

Smoking is an addictive, chronic and relapsing disease that, due to its high prevalence, morbidity and mortality, has become one of the main public health problems worldwide, affecting both smokers and rest of population involuntarily exposed to smoke tobacco. To overcome this pandemic, it is essential that all health professionals intervene on the problem in a manner adapted to their level of care, from giving brief advice for stop smoking to proposing intensive cognitive-behavioral and pharmacological treatment. Smoking cessation treatments have proven to be safe and effective, but unfortunately, the personal and economic resources dedicated to smoker care are not proportional to the magnitude of the problem, with few specialized consultations and lack of funding for pharmacological treatments. In addition, we must confront the arguments of the tobacco industry that interferes in the fight against smoking with new products that they pretend to offer as «harm reduction strategies» when really it is their way of attracting new addicts to tobacco products.