Quitting tobacco

Product makers may suggest that smokeless tobacco will help you quit smoking. But this hasn't been proved. Because of the health risks, smokeless tobacco products aren't a good way to quit smoking.

If you use chewing tobacco or other forms of smokeless tobacco, you can get help with quitting. Your health care team can help you create a quit plan.

Resources that help people stop smoking also may help you stop using smokeless tobacco. Research shows that the following treatments work:

• Behavioral methods. These can give you support and help you learn the coping skills needed to quit tobacco. They include counseling, telephone and texting services, mobile apps, and self-help materials.
• Nicotine replacement therapy. This involves using patches, gum, lozenges, nose sprays or inhalers that contain small amounts of nicotine. These can help ease cravings for tobacco products.
• Medicines. Two prescription medicines that don't contain nicotine are approved to help curb nicotine withdrawal symptoms. They're pills taken by mouth called bupropion (Wellbutrin SR) and varenicline.

In the United States, you can call the National Cancer Institute's telephone quit line: Call 877-44U-QUIT (877-448-7848). Or you can find your state's quit line by calling 800-QUIT-NOW (800-784-8669). If you live outside of the United States, you can view the World Health Organization's list of toll-free quit lines in various countries.