Stop smoking medicine is divided into two main types - conventional medicine and alternative medicine. The conventional medicine is that which doctors prescribe. This kind of medicine is generally prescribed in conjunction with other smoking cessation therapies, which indicates that it is not able to work by itself. Alternative stop smoking medicine is making its presence felt in a big way today. This medicine contains formulations of traditionally developed herbs and is totally natural.

Conventional medicine has been used for a long time in smoking cessation, but its development has occurred only recently. There are many well-known brands that are prescribed to smokers, such as NicVAX, Wellbutrin or Zyban, Chantix, etc. The common thing in all these medicines is that they are actually antidepressants and their major role in smoking cessation is to prevent depression pangs from happening in the smoker.

Most doctors would also agree that the medicines they prescribe to their smokers have little more than a placebo effect. The truth is, though these medicines are antidepressants, the body may become immune to them after a certain period of time. After that, only a placebo effect remains. In addition, such stop smoking medicine can help mild smokers to give up their habit, but they would prove to be largely ineffective in hardened smokers.

That is the reason why doctors always prescribe their stop smoking medicine in addition to some therapy like the nicotine patch. The nicotine patch itself is controversial, because it does contain nicotine. The effectiveness of using nicotine to wean away a nicotine addiction is highly debated even in the medical field itself. Behavior therapies are also prescribed, but their effectiveness is highly subjective.

Alternative medicines used for smoking cessation are herbal extracts. These medicines are not just antidepressants like the conventional medicines are, but they act at various levels. Herbal medicines try to create a dislike for nicotine in the smoker, which makes it much more easier to stay away from the addiction. They do act like antidepressants also and, in a way, they could be counted as safer antidepressants because they are made from natural products that could be used for all kinds of people.

Herbal stop smoking medicine is formulated to repair the damage that smoking has already caused in the body. This is not a quick process, and indeed, in some people a total healing process can take up to ten years. The length of the healing time would depend on the extent to which smoke has damaged the smokers body.

Lobelia is a very commonly used in herbal stop smoking medicine. Lobelia is very similar to tobacco in taste, but it is not addictive. There are stop smoking cigarettes available with lobelia in them. These give the smoker a similar thrill compared to the nicotine cigarette, but do not cause addiction or the harmful effects in the body and mind that nicotine causes. Other commonly used herbs for the purpose are chamomile, Kava Kava and Saint Johns Wort.

Alternative stop smoking medicine is showing encouraging results in tests and in actual use. FDA has still to approve this kind of medicine, but the general acceptance of the effectiveness of herbal medicine is its prime USP.