Kicking the nicotine habit: Get free support to quit smoking or vaping

February 6, 2025

David Balis, M.D. Internal Medicine - General Internal Medicine

Woman breaking cigarette in half — Nicotine is highly addictive, making it tough to quit smoking, vaping, or chewing without expert support.

Millions of people in America use tobacco products through dip, cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or vaping. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable deaths, contributing to more than 480,000 lives lost annually in the U.S. due to heart attacks, stroke, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

For years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and health care organizations such as UT Southwestern have run public health campaigns to definitively share the negative effects of tobacco use.

Because of those efforts, smoking is on the decline. But vaping continues to be a problem and may be perceived as safer and more acceptable than smoking, due largely to limited research on long-term health effects.

Regardless of whether you chew, smoke, or vape, all forms deliver nicotine, one of the most addictive substances available to the public. Nicotine cessation is often compared to the difficulty of quitting heroin or cocaine due to the powerful effects on the brain and the significant psychological and physical withdrawal symptoms experienced when trying to quit.

Every person’s experience with quitting is different. Some can go “cold turkey,” but most people benefit from support from an experienced nicotine cessation expert. UT Southwestern offers a multi-faceted Nicotine Cessation Program to make it easier for you to quit, with support built in every step of the way.

The best part? The program is free.

Free support to help you quit: The sole mission of the UTSW Nicotine Cessation Program is to help you quit smoking, chewing, or vaping for good. Our specialists across multiple fields developed a two-part approach to supporting you through their quitting process: Facing the addiction and breaking the habit.

Part 1: Facing nicotine addiction

doctor and woman looking at chart — If you're having trouble quitting your addiction, seek medical help.

Addiction is not a personal flaw or a determinant of individual strength or weakness. It is a complex brain condition where drugs have changed the brain to want to use a substance despite negative consequences such as risking your health and spending money on the drug. Vape devices can cost upwards of $100, and the “juice” can cost $15 a bottle or more in North Texas.

Quantity of use, how long you’ve had the habit, age, and other health conditions such as anxiety or depression can contribute to the complexity of quitting. We will customize your cessation plan just for you.

Often, beating nicotine addiction requires medical intervention. You can choose from three medication options: nicotine replacement, Chantix, and Wellbutrin. Patients who choose medication experience a success rate two to three times higher than people who quit on their own. The success rate for quitting is two times higher when coupled with nicotine replacement or Wellbutrin and three times higher with Chantix.

Common withdrawal symptoms

Quitting without medication is possible, though many people who do experience side effects of nicotine withdrawal. The CDC classifies the seven most common nicotine withdrawal symptoms as:

Having urges or cravings to use nicotine
Feeling irritated, grouchy, or upset
Being jumpy or restless
Having difficulty concentrating
Having trouble sleeping
Feeling hungry, which sometimes results in weight gain
Feeling anxious, sad, or depressed

Three women walking — Look for healthy distractions, like taking a walk or meeting up with friends, to get your mind off your habit.

Part 2: Breaking the habit

In addition to specialists providing prescription medication support, you can get one-on-one support from addiction psychologists and counselors in the UTSW nicotine cessation program. During these sessions, providers guide you through tactics and strategies to address three behavioral aspects of quitting.

Avoidance: We’ll encourage you to discard smoking and vaping supplies. If someone does not have a cigarette or vape available to use, the inconvenience and cost of buying new items can keep you on track to quit.

Triggers: Tobacco use is interwoven into daily life. Taking a coffee break, going out with friends, driving home from work, or relaxing after a meal may at first cause you to feel the void. Understanding individual triggers and addressing them with a cessation expert can give you powerful tools to avoid slipping into old habits.

Distractions: Our experts also help you choose healthy and beneficial distractions to ease the cravings while you quit. Chewing gum, snacking on fruits or vegetables, sucking on candy, taking a walk, or listening to music can help distract your brain from the default behavior of smoking or vaping.

Eligible for lung screening

If you are 50 or older and use tobacco or have a history of smoking, you may be eligible for a screening chest CT to check for signs of lung cancer. CT is a painless imaging exam that uses low-dose radiation X-rays to get pictures of your lungs. The earlier we spot possible lesions, the sooner we can intervene – and the better your chances of positive outcomes. Talk with your primary care provider about your eligibility.

My child smokes or vapes. How can I help?

If your teen or tween uses e-cigarettes, you’re not alone. Most nicotine addictions start in adolescence.

Cigarette smoking among teens had been declining for decades. Then in 2007, vaping was introduced in the U.S. and began to spread, especially among teens. For years, companies successfully marketed vaping to youth as safe. Companies pushed flavors that appealed to children and designed the devices in whimsical packaging. For millions of teens, e-cigarettes upped the “cool” factor – and got another generation hooked on nicotine.

Vaping devices — A variety of vaping devices are available on the market.

In 2024, cigarette smoking reached an all-time low among middle and high school students, and e-cigarette use is beginning to trend downward. About 6% of all U.S. students vaped in 2024 – 3.5% of middle school students and 7.8% of high school students – compared with nearly 8% of students in 2023.

Beyond nicotine, e-cigarettes can deliver other substances, including cannabis. In a self-reporting survey of U.S. students, 2.7% of eighth graders and 7.2% of sophomores admitted to vaping marijuana in the previous 30 days.

The good news? In 2019 the FDA increased the minimum age for buying tobacco products, which includes e-cigarettes, from 18 years old to 21 years old. This was an important step in keeping these out of the hands of young people. Over the last few years, the rates of use of tobacco products in youth have dropped. E-cigarette companies have also been fined millions of dollars after marketing their addictive devices to children.

Talking with your child about their nicotine use can be challenging, but we have some tips to make it easier:

Avoid comparing how “bad” substances are, such as nicotine versus alcohol
Prepare for the teen to be angry or irritated about your questions (cue the eye rolls!)
Try not to look or sound angry yourself

Most middle and high school students who vape or smoke want to quit, and many have tried unsuccessfully. UTSW’s Nicotine Cessation Program is for anyone who wants to quit, including teens with a referral from their pediatrician.

Can vaping help you quit smoking?

In the 1950s, people thought cigarettes were harmless because they didn’t have decades of research to prove otherwise. Today, the same is true for e-cigarettes. Vaping is highly addictive because it provides nicotine, often in higher quantities than in chewing tobacco, snuff, cigars, or cigarettes.

So, while vaping may be a steppingstone in some cases between smoking cigarettes and quitting, for most, it just swaps one addiction for another. The FDA has not approved any vaping device as a safe way to quit.

E-cigarettes are not regulated by the FDA and may include substances not mentioned on the label. Vape liquid typically contains heavy metals such as tin and aluminum that go into your lungs as well as toxic chemicals such as lead, formaldehyde, and acetone. Thousands of people have developed lung diseases that may be associated with vaping.

The only thing that is OK to put into your lungs is good clean air. You would not inhale smoke from a fire on purpose, so why would you intentionally put chemicals in your lungs?

Ready to quit nicotine? It’s OK to get help

Studies have shown that it is common for quitting to take multiple attempts. Mark Twain reportedly once said, “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it hundreds of times.” Though quitting is a challenge, our program is here to support you.

Our intake and ongoing sessions are held remotely over Zoom or by phone so accessing your provider has never been easier. Prescriptions can be picked up at a local pharmacy of choice. And the health benefits of quitting are almost immediate, including: