Description

This category involved prescription drugs to help smokers quit smoking.

Although there were a variety of medicines tested, they roughly all came out the same. The results did not show the need to split the category into better and worse performers.

6,810 smokers included from 29 separate studies.

Results

Medication had the 12th highest quit rate of any category.

These results are surprisingly bad. Drugs are clearly in the bottom tier of least effective methods because of their poor performance.

Bottom line

If you have tried drugs to stop smoking and they have not worked, you are in good company.

Although drug companies have huge advertising budgets and a cozy relationship with doctors, their products are inferior for quitting smoking when compared to many other methods.

Additionally, the side effects of these drugs can be quite serious.

More information on what works, what doesn't, and why

Smoking quit tips has the big picture take away from the research

Our stop smoking program has the scientifically proven best choice to quit smoking

The method of quit smoking study has the study background including:

• Citations and links
• Study authors and methods
• Study's reception in the research community
• Criteria for including the 633 separate studies, and more

Nice reasons to stop smoking has the really good news about quitting smoking

Side effects of quit smoking methods lists the shocking side effects by method, straight from the FDA

Ways to quit smoking has the full list of links to 15 methods

Important patch research explains the Journal of the American Medical Association article that concluded the patch and NRT was "No longer effective"

The IRS and quitting smoking shows that the IRS does not like weak methods like drugs and NRT at all