[How to evaluate and treat tobacco dependence]

Tobacco smoking remains a major public health problem; although the number of smokers seems to diminish, the percentage of heavy smokers increases owing to a real dependence on tobacco. This dependence is a complex phenomenon, with a constant psychological component and a variable pharmacological component related to nicotine. These two types of dependence must be evaluated as best as possible by means of tests (personality tests eliciting depressive elements, Fagerström's test, etc.) in order to adjust treatment to each individual case. Withdrawing tobacco can be helped by different methods such as confirming the subject in his decision to stop smoking, psychological therapy, dietetic advice and chemotherapy with nicotine, clonidine or psychotropic drugs. But the most effective treatment is prevention which may develop thanks to health education measures and to legislative measures such as the "Loi Evin" (a new French law called after the Minister of Health).