The CDC recently beefed up their national tobacco education ad campaign featuring real people living with the effects of smoking-related diseases or exposure to smoking secondhand. Guess who the campaign also features—pharmacists!

The Tips From Former Smokers campaign started in 2012. Recently, CDC released a series of powerful new ads featuring former smokers who suffer from smoking-related illnesses, including vision loss and colorectal cancer.

CDC has a webpage just for pharmacists to help them get engaged in the campaign and to show how they can support patients. The webpage has links to materials designed for pharmacists including 1-800-QUIT-NOW notepads; “Reasons to Quit” patient handouts; radio and video ads to show and air in stores; information about quit lines; “Talk With Your Pharmacist” posters; and more.

APhA is working closely with the CDC to get messages from the campaign into local communities. Pharmacists are in the perfect position to educate patients about the importance of smoking cessation and counsel them about prescription and nonprescription therapies. I am so proud that APhA has partnered with CDC to promote the pharmacist’s role in smoking cessation. This is one critical way that we as pharmacists can make a difference. Every smoker you help quit could save a life!

For more information about the Tips From Former Smokers campaign and to view links to the ads, visit www.cdc.gov/tips.