Commit to quit smoking

• They are accessible: Pharmacies are everywhere, and many are open extended hours and on weekends. There are even 24-hour pharmacies.
• Pharmacists have nicotine replacement products, like patches, lozenges and gum, and can talk patients and customers through the options, and explain how to use them.
• Pharmacists and pharmacy staff are trained to help people quit.
• Pharmacists can advise on medicine interaction with smoking.
• Pharmacies, as part of the local community, are there to provide ongoing support and advice.
• The pharmacists and staff can also refer people wanting to quit to other experts, or recommend they see their doctor for further help.

The data underscoring the need to quit is compelling.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, tobacco smoking is responsible for 9.3 per cent of the total burden of disease and injury.

Other key findings from the AIHW report include:

• Tobacco is the leading cause of cancer in Australia (contributing 22 per cent of cancer burden).
• About 1 in 10 (9.6 per cent) mothers smoked at any time during their pregnancy in 2018.
• There has been a long-term downward trend in daily tobacco smoking since 1991 (24 per cent), with a significant decline between 2016 (12.2 per cent) and 2019 (11.0 per cent).
• There has been an increase in the number of people choosing to never take up smoking (63 per cent in 2019, up from 49 per cent in 1991).
• About 1 in 5 (19.6 per cent) people who lived in remote and very remote areas of Australia in 2019 were daily smokers.
• Use of e-cigarettes increased significantly between 2016 and 2019 — in 2019, about 2 in 5 (39 per cent) of current smokers had used e-cigarettes in their lifetime, up from 31 per cent in 2016.
• In 2019, most (69 per cent) of e-cigarette users reported that they were current smokers when they first tried an e-cigarette; however, 23 per cent had never smoked.