Op-Ed. Exciting, right?

Brandon Eller
English 102
11/13/09

Stop Smoking Op-Ed
Smoking is an addiction that many people want to break, but are often mislead in the best treatment. Most people believe that Nicotine Replacement Therapy is going to free them from their addiction, but this is simply not the case. According to The American Cancer Society, 91.4% of former smokers have quit cold turkey, or by simple weaning from their normal intake. The reason people smoke and continue to smoke is to give the body its fix of nicotine, which cigarettes supply. Nicotine is addictive, but not really all that harmful, but the other chemicals in the cigarettes are, leading to many health issues. This is why people quit, to live longer, healthier lives. And since nicotine is the only part the brain is craving, many people will try to replace their cigarettes with a patch, gum, or other item to give the body its “needed” nicotine.

One major problem with switching over to a nicotine gum or patch is that users will become dependent of those, and may easily relapse to their old smoking habits. According to lifestyle.iloveindia.com, chewing nicotine gum for too long will lead to prolonged hiccups, gum disease, and loss of hair and teeth. The reason for the gum disease and tooth loss is due to the nicotine causing poor circulation in the gums. And what happens when someone cuts their addiction to one of these Nicotine Replacements? Well they are likely to turn back to smoking, and when someone “quits” smoking, and comes back to it, it will be twice as hard for them to quit again.

Rory Stafford is a former smoker who originally tried the patch with no success. He said that after only six days using a patch he decided it was useless and went back to smoking for another five years. What did he do when he worked up the courage to try again? “I prepared by setting a date and began to consider each cigarette as I smoked it. I noted its horrible taste and the feeling of weakness that followed from the smoke. I told myself that there was no benefit to be had from smoking and in time, I came to realize that this was true.” When he came to the date he set to be finished with smoking, he welcomed it and was relieved to be finished with his 20 years of smoking. After being smoke free for five years, he says that if he had used gum or patches at the same time it would have prolonged his recovery. He admits during the first few weeks there were moments where he was shaky, but it passed and he’s feeling great. Nicotine Replacement Therapy is a good concept, but it lacks the success rates that self motivation has. Smoking is a hard habit to break, but if you want to be completely rid of it, then willpower will is clearly the strongest option. Some treatments are being worked on to eliminate smoking addiction without feeding nicotine into the body, and these will probably greatly help when combined with pure willpower.