OBJECTIVES:Tobacco use is a significant cause of morbidity with consequent marked economic burden. So far, smoking cessation (SC) medications are not reimbursed in Finland. We evaluated the current and future costs of smoking related diseases for society and the potential returns for investments in SC. METHODS: We estimated minimum and maximum smoking attributable proportions of relevant diseases from literature. Comprehensive population based Finnish registry data was combined to evaluate major expenditures (health care costs, sick-leave compensations, disability pensions, and loss of productivity) in 2006 euros from 1996 to 2006. Future expenses were extrapolated from relevant data and the influence of SC assessed in models with several survival patterns. Models were fitted with three SC medications with different efficacies (A=5%, B=10% and C= 20% success) and one-time costs (starting from A=€100, B=€200, C=€300 per patient). Return on investment for government provided drug administration to 20 000 patients from 2008 to 2017 was calculated for all options. RESULTS: In the minimum tobacco influence scenario, total annual societal costs of smoking attributed morbidities were €290M with health care costs of €145M (year 2006).This scenario yielded an increase in real total costs to €376M by 2030. Respective estimations in maximum scenario were €554M, €280M and €717M. By subsidizing a free withdrawal drug delivery for 10 years, the government incurred a cost of €2.3M (A) €4.5 (B) and €6.8M (C), but received net present value (NPV) of €29M (A), €57M (B) and €130M (C), through savings from decreased health related expenditures (5% discount rate used). Values in the maximum scenarios were €66M, €131M and €227M. Tobacco tax was not included in the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The costs of smoking for society are projected to increase during the near future. Our models show that subsidy of SC drugs is a sound investment.