Free Nicotine Replacement Therapies (NRT) for smokers eager to quit

Local stop smoking clinics are offering nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) free of charge to people aiming to kick the habit.

The announcement comes to mark National No Smoking Day - Wednesday, February 22. The free NRT comes as part of a package of supports through the HSE QUIT service.

NRT are licensed medicines that safely give lower levels of nicotine to help smokers get through cravings and withdrawal symptoms that can double your chances of quitting for good.

In 2022, almost one in five people in Ireland smoke, and has remained at this level since 2019.

Dr Paul Kavanagh, HSE Public Health Medicine Lead with the Tobacco Free Ireland Programme, outlines how NRT works: “We sometimes talk about smoking as a choice but the reality is that it is an addiction. Nicotine makes cigarettes addictive and hard to give up. You will double your chances of quitting for good if you get support from QUIT.ie and use NRT, which is now provided free from local stop smoking clinics.

“NRT are safer than smoking because they don’t contain the other poisonous chemicals, like tar and carbon monoxide, which are present in tobacco smoke.

“They come in many different forms like patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers and mouth sprays and often work best when you combine them together in a way that suits you. For example, use a long-acting patch combined with a short-acting nicotine mouth spray or lozenge.

“Using NRT, over a full course of 12 weeks, doubles your chances of quitting smoking in combination with all the encouragement, emotional and behavioural support available from HSE Stop Smoking Advisors before and after you quit smoking. I would recommend anyone who is thinking about stopping smoking to consider making a quit attempt with help from NRT and a Stop Smoking Advisor to give themselves every chance of staying quit for good.”

For more see www.QUIT.ie