Increasing tobacco cessation is essential if we are to reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by tobacco use within the next 30 to 50 years. For example, the World Health Organization Tobacco Free Initiative states "Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million deaths each year). If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020. Half the people that smoke today - that is about 650 million people - will eventually be killed by tobacco."
All of these are current tobacco users and, therefore, only interventions that encourage and enable them to stop will reduce this morbidity and mortality in the short to medium term.

The vast majority of projected deaths caused by tobacco use in the next 30 to 50 years will be from people who are already addicted to tobacco., Increasing cessation among current tobacco users is therefore the only way to reduce tobacco-caused mortality and morbidity in this timeframe. Preventing young people taking up using tobacco is an important tobacco control strategy in the long run but, even if successful, would not begin to reduce tobacco-caused mortality and morbidity for some decades.
 

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