It was estimated that current cigarette smoking will cause about 450 million deaths worldwide in the next fifty years. Reducing current smoking by 50% would avoid 20 to 30 million premature deaths in the first quarter of the century and about 150 million in the second. Preventing young people from starting smoking would cut tobacco-related death but not until after 2050. Quitting by current smokers is therefore the only way in which tobacco-related mortality can be reduced in the medium-term. There is evidence that some form of treatment aids an increasing number of successful quit attempts. European experiences concerning schedules of the fight against the tobacco addiction with the use of the treatment aids were described in the paper.