WASHINGTON — Truckers using the smoking cessation pill Chantix to butt out will have to quit the drug too.

After the Federal Aviation Administration banned the use of Chantix for pilots and air traffic controllers this week, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chimed in on Thursday, advising medical examiners "not qualify anyone currently using this medication for commercial motor vehicle licences."

The warnings come on the heels of a new study by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, which found that the drug, made by Pfizer, could be linked to seizures and heart trouble. The medication has also been linked to severe side effects such as suicidal thoughts.

In Canada, the drug was approved by Health Canada in 2007 and is marketed under the name Champix.

The drug works by blocking "pleasure centres" in the brain that provide the response from smoking or eating. However, the same effect may also raise the risk of depression, critics say.

Pfizer says those possible reactions are extremely rare and are properly explained on the drug’s label. The drug is very common and used by millions of people, the company added.

As if kicking the habit wasn’t already hard enough.