CDC urges pharmacists to join anti-smoking campaign

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched a new webpage urging pharmacists to take a lead role in the government’s smoking cessation efforts.

The webpage is entitled “Pharmacists: Help Your Patients Quit Smoking.” It offers various tools such as downloadable “Talk with Your Pharmacist” posters in English and Spanish that encourage smokers to seek counseling from pharmacists.

“You can play a key role in fighting tobacco use, the number one cause of preventable death and disease in the United States,” the webpage reads. “You see many of your patients regularly. They come to you with questions about their medicines and their overall health. Many of your patients may be tobacco users who want to quit.”

The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) supports the CDC campaign. “We have significant policy urging the removal of tobacco products from pharmacies and facilities that include pharmacies,” Thomas E. Menighan, BS Pharm, MBA, ScD (Hon), FAPhA, executive vice president and CEO of the American Pharmacists Association, wrote in his blog. “As health care providers, pharmacists are committed to limiting access to products that are known to cause disease and poor health.”

Menighan urged pharmacists to share their smoking cessation efforts on APhA’s Facebook page. He said those responses will be shared with the CDC.