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Treatment Options for Smoking in the '90s
Author(s) -
Fiore Michael C.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
the journal of clinical pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.92
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1552-4604
pISSN - 0091-2700
DOI - 10.1002/j.1552-4604.1994.tb03986.x
Subject(s) - library science , citation , center (category theory) , medical school , intervention (counseling) , research center , medicine , medical education , computer science , psychiatry , chemistry , pathology , crystallography
S moking remains the most important public health issue facing our nation. As clinicians, we will be challenged to help our patients stop smoking. A very simple, user-friendly model to accomplish this task is described. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General, emphasized the importance of this issue when he said, “Cigarette smoking is the chief single avoidable cause of death in our society and the most important public health issue of our time.” It is fitting that this conference is being held on inauguration day; a time of great hope and promise. It is also an opportunity for each of us to recommit ourselves to the goal that Surgeon General Koop set out to accomplish: to create a smoke-free society by the year 2000. There is much to do to achieve this goal. It is important to review the success that has already been achieved. In 1964, the first Surgeon General’s report on cigarette smoking was released. At that time, smoking was an incredibly common behavior practiced by all segments of society. Cigarette smoking was often equated with sophistication, sex appeal, and success. Hollywood glamorized smoking, and Americans took up the habit with gusto. It was an acceptable (and in some circles required) behavior, and the statistics reflected that phenomenon. In 1964, more than 40% of all adults smoked, including more than 50% of all adult men.1 Let us now review smoking behavior during this century so that we can appreciate all of our accomplishments, and the steps remaining to achieve a smoke-free environment by the year 2000. At the turn of the century, smoking was a distinctly uncommon behavior; it first became popular around 1910 (Figure 1). This event coincided with the first machine-made production of cigarettes and the outbreak of World War I, exposing our first generation of young men to tobacco products on a widescale basis. The use of tobacco continued to increase, peaking in the 1940s during World War II. During WWII, cigarettes were made part of the meal rations