Cigarettes Are Your Friend

Posting Date: 01/20/2004

Dr. Dean's Comments: At last someone has tackled whats really going on with hard core smokers. If smoking was just a simple addiction to nicotine then giving the smoker nicotine in any form...gum, patch, or inhaler, should make quitting easy. Also if nicotine were so addicting in and of itself, than nicotine gum for instance should be hard to quit also. While a few smokers find themselved "hooked" on the gum, the vast majority have no problem stopping the gum. This research tells us how complex a habit smoking is. Cigarettes are a smokers friend and more. I feel like that about my morning cup of coffee. It too is my friend and if you try to take it away from me...look out.

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HEAVY SMOKERS SEE CIGARETTES AS ?FRIENDS?

By Becky Ham, Science Writer

Health Behavior News Service

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Heavy smokers ? those who light up 25 times or more a day ? look to their cigarettes for comfort and companionship, according to a new study.

In-depth interviews with 51 heavy smokers in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research uncovered both anger and fear at the thought of quitting, say Beti Thompson, Ph.D., and colleagues of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

?Over 90 percent believed that even though smoking was dangerous, it was their ?friend.? The danger of losing a friend was more threatening to them than the dangers of smoking, and they worried about what would take the place of cigarettes emotionally,? Thompson says.

?Although heavy smokers know they need to stop smoking, they feel angry that this source of physical pleasure should be taken from them. They see themselves as victims who have been duped into smoking and continued smoking,? she adds.

Thompson and colleagues interviewed the smokers to find out what kinds of psychological traits might be linked with heavy smoking and the ability to quit. Most of the study participants were white men, ages 35 to 54, who had been smoking for nearly 25 years.