Quitting Smoking - It's Time!

[John R. Polito]

Nicotine's dependency rate among regular users is over 70% while cocaine's regular user addiction rate is consistently in the neighborhood of 15%. Yes, nicotine is five times more addictive than cocaine! What follows is the warning label language that the Canadian government has just placed on Canadian cigarette packs (a pending bill in the U.S. Congress is attempting to do the same here):

"WARNING - CIGARETTES ARE HIGHLY ADDICTIVE - Studies have shown that tobacco can be harder to quit than heroin or cocaine."

B.Y.U. has an online study where addiction experts have ranked nicotine as the most addictive substance on earth. Three other drug comparison studies have also ranked nicotine at the top.

As you probably know, the CDC reports that all illegal drug deaths in the U.S., combined, totalled less than 20,000 while tobacco killed 439,000 last year. Clearly, the pressures will continue building on law enforcement officers who are unable to defeat their dependency upon nicotine.

If you are addicted to nicotine and would like to break free, I strongly encourage you to visit one of the online quit smoking education and support sites that today are helping thousands live nicotine free lives.

If you visit
WhyQuit.Com
you'll find a wealth of information that will tremendously increase your odds of breaking free. Even if you don't think that you're ready to quit just yet, I strongly recommend that you briefly visit this site, take a look around, and bookmark it for future reference.

I teach smoking cessation at free live clinics here in S.C. and also online at Freedom. If I can lend a hand just let me know. Good luck!

Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,

Zep : ) John R. Polito

Founder, www.WhyQuit.Com
[email protected]

[DMS 525]

Don't look at me! I quit 3 years ago come next month. Every day I thank myself for doing so.

If I can quit smoking, I think anyone can.

[SpecOpsWarrior]

I quit smoking a few months ago and its great to be smoke free. I still have a craving everyonce in awhile, but I have sworn to never to touch the death sticks ever again.

[klar]

I quit way back in 1984 when pack went up to $1 each I always said would not pay a dollar for a pack of cigs. Now my lungs are in worse shape than a person who has smoked all thier lives thanks to the oil well fires in the gulf war. I guess it all averages out somehow in life. All I can say is good luck to anyone who quits.

Klar

[Mitzi]

Neither my husband or I have ever smoked. I was alarmed when my son started smoking in high school. But, I could tell he was only smoking to be part of the crowd. As soon as he graduated, he quit smoking and I have never seen him smoke since, weird!

[koenig]

Thanks for the link, I'm trying to stop...

The patch is not working to well!!!!!1


Koenig

[Mike Tx]

I quit smoking 10 years, 7 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 19 hours and 36 minutes ago.

Those patches are great, I just roll them up and smoke them!

[John R. Polito]

Just a quick note to those of you who have quit. The law of nicotine addiction is very simple. If you take a single puff of new nicotine you will either immediately, or in a short period of time, experience full and complete relapse back to your old level of nicotine intake or higher. The addicted human brain has grown extra "nicotonic" receptors to handles increasing levels of nicotine to ensure a steady output of dopamine. Although shut-down within two weeks of quitting, those extra receptors will remain with us and, like a power plant that has been temporarily shut down, remain fully capable of again demanding nicotine. It's almost like being put on probation for life.

Koenig, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT = nicotine patch, gum, spray, inhaler, liquid
and pill) is extremely ineffective in helping smokers quit. In June 2000 the U.S. Department of Heath & Human Services published the revised Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. I'm sure a copy is available at your local drug abuse office. Look at Table 40. It's the average of three patch medical studies that were combined together and shows that 89.9% of Over-The-Counter nicotine patch users fail and relapse by the six month mark. That's just three months after the recommended time for using the patch.

The key to lasting abstinence is education and understanding. Is the number of bullets that a gun holds an important fact? Could knowledge of that fact mean life or death? How about how the "safety" works, or how to load new bullets? Quitting smoking is no different.

What is the maximum length of time that a first week crave lasts, how many should you expect, how long before they peak in intensity, name 50 crave coping techniques, why does drinking fruit juice during the first week immediately make your concentration normal again, why can you no longer skip breakfast after quitting, how long before all nicotine is out of your body, how long does physical nicotine withdrawal last, what is a psychological habit crave trigger, how much will your lung function increase within 90 days of quitting (30%), why must smokers who drink alcohol immediately use additional nicotine, why must smokers under stress immediately inhale new nicotine, what is the half-life of nicotine in the human body, what is the only rule that we each must follow in order to remain nicotine clean for life?

These are just a few of the questions that most lifelong smokers have no idea how to answer. If a cigarette was a gun, they'd be dangerous and could kill someone! Chances are they will! The power of nicotine will lead half of all long term addicts to an early grave (an average of 15.3 years early here in SC).

Visit WhyQuit.Com (www.whyquit.com) and spend a bit of time reading! Uneducated quitters do even worse than nicotine patch users (95% six month failure rate). Don't fight in the dark - turn the lights on! The first time educated quitter success rate is in the neighborhood of 50%. Those are pretty good odds! Master your addiction!

[John R. Polito]

[koenig]

Thanks for the info.

Koenig

[John R. Polito]

Even if you're not YET ready to quit smoking, please take a second now to see if you know how to quit.

I've prepared a short 20 question quiz that will quickly let you know just how knowledgable you are about quitting. It will only take a minute! What do you have to lose! No one will see your grade but you!

Here is the link, good luck!

WhyQuit's Quit Quiz

[RachelR]

What are your thoughts on hyopnosis Zep? I don't smoke but I have been trying to get my father to quit now for 10 years.. Also have friends that smoke as well.. 3 of my friends tried hypnosis and it worked for them.

[John R. Polito]

You can help your dad, RaychelR and I doubt you'll need hypnosis to do it! I tried hypno twice and once it even lasted for an entire day the first time but then I tried almost all the magic cures twice. The only one I skipped was accupuncture - I have a deadly fear of needles!

The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services completed a review of all the smoking hypnosis medical studies that have ever been done and in June 2000 concluded that there is "insufficient evidence to support hypnosis as a treatment for smoking cessation." Tobacco Cessation Guidelines. In other words, they say that I wasted my money, LOL, and that those who quit after undergoing hypnosis would statistically have quit with or without it!

When friends get together to quit it often provides positive reinforcement for each other but it also carries the danger of multiple relapses when any member of the support group fails. It's ok to quit with others but we must rely upon ourselves for our own motivation and not lean too heavily upon other quitters, family or friends as our source of quit inspiration.

As for helping your dad, you may want to visit WhyQuit and Joel's Library and print out a few "How To" articles and leaving them laying around the house where dad can find them. It's not easy getting through to older and deeply entrenched smokers but then again in the first live clinic I ever taught I had a 50 years smoker who is still free today. Her name is Pat and we were all very proud of her! I'll attach a couple of links below to articles that you may want to copy for dad. Good luck!


Nicodemon's Lies

My Cigarette, My FriendTake it One Day at a Time

Using Attitude to Reduce Quit Stress

Blood Sugar Changes When Quitting