It’s no secret that the number of people who use tobacco is on the decline. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about 17% of Americans smoked cigarettes in 2014. In 1980, 33% of Americans reported smoking.

James Davis is a Physician at Duke. He’s also the Medical Director for the Duke Center for Smoking Cessation. He’s one of the doctors behind a new program that aims to make that percentage even lower.

“Really the state of NC has needed a program like this for a long time,” Davis said.

It’s called the Duke – UNC Tobacco Treatment Specialist Credentialing Program. In it, the two schools will partner with the state of North Carolina to create a program that will train those who hope to become Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists. Davis said these specialists will learn how to administer innovative therapies to anyone dependent on tobacco and nicotine.

“Even though there has been dramatic improvement in terms of smoking incidents,” he said, “We still have a fifth of our population who are doing something that is catastrophic in health terms.”

Davis said the purpose of the program is to study different things that can affect nicotine dependence, such as genetics or mental health, and administer a treatment based on that research. He said previously, specialists would have to go to Massachusetts or Florida to get this certification.

“There’s really been nothing in the area of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee – in these southeastern states to train tobacco dependence specialists,” he said.

Davis said the program will make it easier for the newly trained specialists to then spread the information on the harms of smoking and other tobacco use.

“So providing treatment specialists who can go out to their own communities and serve as experts to guide education and also guide local policy is I think an important mission of our training program as well,” he said.

The next Certified Tobacco Treatment Special Training will be held on October 19-22.

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