Prescribing e-cigarettes

Hello and welcome to the November issue of the Journal of Prescribing Practice (JPrP). You may have been aware of the recent news of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) publishing guidance supporting bringing e-cigarettes to market as licensed therapies (Gov.uk, 2021). This guidance was published following a consultation with the E-Cigarette Experts Working Group, a group from across the UK that provides independent oversight and advice to the MHRA.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) states that in 2019 (the most recently collected data), 14.1% of people ages 18 years and above smoked cigarettes in the UK (ONS, 2020). While at first glance this might not seem excessive, it does equate to around 6.9 million people, an alarming number considering all the knowledge and resources that are now freely available. I'm sure for some of you meeting those who want to quit smoking or are struggling to do so is a common concern within your day-to-day practice, using treatments such as varenicline, bupropion and nicotine replacement therapy (such as patches and gum) (NHS, 2018). With this proposed licensing of e-cigarettes for use in helping smokers stop using cigarettes, practitioners could have a new avenue to explore if patients are reluctant to take a prescription drug or use patches and/or gum. Our sister journal, Practice Nursing, recently published a piece looking at new approaches to helping smokers, detailing how while they work in a similar way to nicotine replacement therapy, they deliver the nicotine in a more pleasant way (Ross, 2021). It's the tar and carbon monoxide that causes many smoking-related illnesses that are seen in smokers; nicotine being the least harmful (Ross, 2021).