"Time to quit", a program piloted in Winnipeg in 1983, is an example of the importance of the pharmacist in the smoking cessation issue. Through the Manitoba Pharmaceutical Association, pharmacies were utilized as distribution centres for a self-help smoking cessation booklet. In the city of Winnipeg, 82% of city pharmacies received a total of 40,500 books; 93.5% of these booklets were picked up by the public. Pharmacists also had the option to become more involved in the anti-smoking campaign if they so desired. Pharmacists not only have the knowledge to discuss the area of smoking cessation, they arein a strategic position for dissemination of that knowledge.