I just reviewed the data from ENCODAT 2025, and something caught my attention: nearly 3 out of 4 smokers in Mexico want to quit tobacco, but the healthcare system is leaving them alone. We're talking about 74.8% of smokers with a real intention to quit, and 57% have even tried to do so in the past year. But here’s the worrying part: only 18% receive any kind of medical support.

That means there’s a huge gap between willpower and available support. Dr. Guadalupe Ponciano Rodríguez, coordinator of the Interinstitutional Committee for the Fight Against Tobacco, made it clear: this is a completely missed opportunity. And she’s right, considering that smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death in the country, responsible for 9.7% of deaths, which amounts to nearly 63,000 deaths annually.

What’s interesting is that smoked tobacco consumption has decreased significantly since 2016, especially among men and in cities like Mexico City. But while that’s happening, electronic cigarettes are growing alarmingly among teenagers: from 1.1% in 2016 to 3.1% in 2025. It’s as if we’re trading one problem for another.

Legal advances in 2022 and 2023 that banned smoking in public places and tobacco advertising clearly helped. However, there’s still a long way to go: plain packaging, higher taxes, serious regulation of these emerging products. And what I find most critical is that the tobacco industry is increasingly targeting young people through social media, with new strategies that no one is effectively regulating.

The reality is that we need more than just laws on paper. We need those laws to be truly enforced, with genuine resources to support those who want to quit smoking. From tools like a quitting app to real medical support, every bit helps. Civil society organizations are desperately calling for stronger law enforcement and for the right to health to be guaranteed, especially for new generations. Because if 75% of smokers want to quit but lack support, we are failing as a system. A quitting app could be part of the solution, but without structural changes in tobacco control policies, we will continue to see 170 people die daily from tobacco-related diseases.