Smoking cessation is harder than quitting heroin, a leading Australian researcher has confirmed.

Cigarettes are harder to quit than drugs images 1 Raymond Seidler, from Sydney, says that many smokers simply don't recognize the problem they have.

"What smokers don't realize is that nicotine addiction is strong, even more powerful than heroin addiction. Therefore, many people will be shocked to learn that quitting smoking is a serious challenge for most of them. " he said.

Dr. Seidler - an addiction specialist with more than 30 years of experience - says people will be more likely to quit if they seek expert help.

According to AAP, Australia's pharmaceutical company Pfizer has also conducted a survey of over 2,000 smokers. The results showed that 27% said they hated spending money to ask experts to help quit smoking, while 17% worried about being evaluated. 16% did not admit that they tried to quit but failed.

The survey also found that 12% did not have time to look to experts.