Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site mcnc.mcnc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!mhuxn!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!mcnc!bch
From: bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron C. Howes)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: quit smoking postings
Message-ID: <993@mcnc.mcnc.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 17-Nov-85 06:31:02 EST
Article-I.D.: mcnc.993
Posted: Sun Nov 17 06:31:02 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 19-Nov-85 04:14:38 EST
References: <815@inuxd.UUCP> <1253@bbncc5.UUCP>
Reply-To: bch@mcnc.UUCP (Byron C. Howes)
Distribution: net
Organization: North Carolina Educational Computing Service
Lines: 45

In article <1253@bbncc5.UUCP> sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) writes:

>Regarding postings, I feel that facts (especially new or not-so-recently-trod
>ones) are valuable, though it's important to deliver them without any chance
>of being perceived as superior and lacking compassion.

This discussion is beginning to go in good directions.  New facts on the
hazards of smoking are useful in the sense that any information is useful.
Within some limits, the more information we have the better we can control
the various aspects of our lives.

>I think the medical profession would do well to
>try to develop therapeutic paradigms which can assist the smoker, since
>for many smokers, the task is too difficult to go alone.

I'd say for most smokers.  I've seen folks fight the cigarette habit over and
over again whose willpower in all other respects I would have considered
remarkable.  It seems to have come to the medical profession that support
groups are required for there to be a reasonable chance of sucessfully
quitting.  

> Does anyone know
>about the recently approved nicotine chewing gum, and whether it's just a
>flash in the pan or a legitimate aid to helping people quit?

The stuff is legit -- I know, I used it.  It allows you to separate the
physical from psychological aspects of addiction and to deal with them
apart from one another.  It is not a panacaea, however.  I've known
more people who have been unable to quit using Nicorette than have been
able to.  As a matter of fact, I'm the only person I know who has used
it successfully!

Apparently there is also some problem in getting people off the gum.  I
didn't have that problem, but now have a 2 pack a day bubblegum habit
to try to get rid of...

Seriously, if a person is comitted to quitting smoking, the Nicorette will
help.  It is expensive...$25 per 100 tablets in this part of the world.
Over the course of detoxification, however, it costs less than cigarettes.
You can also chew it in places you can't smoke, like church, which is a
goodie it offers as inducement.  
-- 

						Byron C. Howes
				      ...!{decvax,akgua}!mcnc!ecsvax!bch