How to waste $115 million in Nicotine Research

The NIH has received $115 to study smoke cessation, according to the NY Times, of which they spent $2.5 million on nicotine free cigarettes. It sounds like a good thing and I’m sure they mean well.

But aren’t they really just protecting the industry? And their agenda with it?

The key question is – is why are you covering this when the biggest issue is Electronic Cigarettes – or vaporized alternate nicotine delivery system. They are obviously the future – but not in this study.

Here’s a summary of why this study is about protecting the tobacco patch:

1. Nicotine free cigarettes like Quest have been around for years – and smokers don’t want them. Even weekend smokers.

2. Nicotine is not the problem. The problem is why people seek out an addictive property. Nicotine can help offset Alzheimer's and it works for many as a poor man’s anti-ADD product and general calmant.

3. Tars are the problem, since they cause the cancers – but that is not being researched here. The objective is to support the tobacco growing industry.

4. Alternate nicotine delivery systems a/k/a Electronic Cigarettes are not being discussed. It is the biggest issue in smoking – but not even mentioned.

Then there is the issue why do young people want to smoke anyway – because if you don’t answer that, they will just find something similar or probably more dangerous as a substitute.

Smoking is more than a medical or scientific proposition – it a psycho-spiritual calmant and empowerment substance that is perceived to have slightly magical powers and can be just as powerful as any religion.

If this is not part of the research then we are getting much new here.

At the end of the day, the superficiality of this study almost laughable - especially when we know that the market has overwhelming rejected nicotine-less cigarettes. Just as alcohol-free beer and wine don't exactly get people to stop drinking - this is a fairly good exercise in wasted tax dollars and diversion of the genuine conversation.

As for the beleaguered tax-payer - they are just kissing away $115 million and the tobacco industry is getting a backdoor support system.

Just Banging Your Head is Easier than Philip Morris' CEO Camilleri: "not that hard to quit."

Philip Morris's CEO set off a firestorm by saying "it's not that hard to quit."  It's a corporate position that attempts to paint them as the "OK guys." Maybe.....

In the meantime though, it's worth noting there really is a little-known and much easier way to quit.

You bang your head in just the right place. Seriously.

As the author of a book about why people smoke and how the tobacco companies researched this to develop the psychological power of their brands, I can say that in a ridiculous way, Philip Morris' CEO, Louis Camilleri is right!

Several years ago, researchers found that a disabled insula will cause any smoker to quit immediately.

This little known part of the brain serves a kind of spiritual integration center of thoughts and drives. So while we were being facetious about self-laceration, the bigger point is that smoking is a profound issue.

Yet both the tobacco companies and it's critics try to argue that it is a trivial issue except for this little problem of addiction. The pro-smokers say addiction is not that big of a deal, the anti-smokers say its a very big deal.

But it turns out that addiction in itself is not that big of a deal - it is thepsychological syndrome that is a big deal. The term I use for this ispsychic because it ties psychology and a kind of spirituality together. The addiction is there to serve the bigger need which typically occurs at the early teen, coming-of-age years. You'd have to read my book,Cigarette Seduction to understand the depth of this commitment to smoking once you start in those early years - and almost everyone does.

It also makes you realize that people have a need first and then they discover smoking - especially now when the psychological profile of smokers has changed quite dramatically over the past 25 years (much less about "everyone else" doing it and much more about personal issues). Therefore, if there were no smoking they would - and they do - seek out other things.

If we discussed the larger issue we could manage that process. If we continue the ridiculous for- and against-smoking fight - as if cigarettes created the need for "life-aids" and not the stress of living creating the need for solutions - we might actually reach a better outcome.

The bottom line of Cigarette Seduction is that when smokers understand what cigarettes mean for them they can overcome it by transferring the need to more productive outlets. Many smokers have found they can quit the addiction - people do it all the time - but it is much harder to fill the psychic void it leaves behind. That is why - despite all the drugs and aids - the majortiy of quitters tend to drift back to smoking.

While the Cigarette Seduction process is not simplistic the approach is simple: by offering the only known key to understanding a smoker's special relationship to cigarettes by revealing the meanings of the brands it helps them break the cycle through insight. Once this has been demystified, the addiction becomes a burden instead of a pleasurable break. It then becomes much easier to quit on a permanent basis because when smoking is meaningless there is no reason to remain addicted to it.

FULL TEXT OF THE CIGARETTE SEDUCTION PRESS RELEASE

According to a report by the Associated Press, Philip Morris International CEO Louis Camilleri yesterday stated at the company's annual shareholder meeting in New York that, while cigarettes are addictive, "it is not that hard to quit."

"The easiest way to quit," says Cigarette Seduction author (www.cigseduction.com), Alan Brody is to bang your head against the wall in just the right way!

Researchers know that smokers who damage a part of the brain called the "insula" quit immediately. So it really is all in the head.

However, smokers heads are not all alike. Quitting depends on their psychological commitment and "Cigarette Seduction" is an extraordinary key to this.

Brody's book explains the meaning of the brands based on the depth psychological research the leading tobacco companies used to develop, thanks to access he had to a number of their leading researchers. Brody notes that smoking is not only deep but the tobacco companies have mastered the art of exploiting it.

The moment of adoption is the critical issue.

"Your teenage starter years make the difference," says Brody, "if you began smoking on account a compelling emotional need – you will have a hard time quitting. If you were just following the herd then quitting is easy. "

"Philip Morris may deserve a knock or two for their 'Cigarette Seduction' but it not only about the seller - the smoker is there for a reason. People who need -1392350743 this emotional type of support will seek out a substitute. Now there are options like eCigarettes to choose from which may be less dangerous and even a good way to quit."

Cigarette Seduction is available on Amazon and can be viewed at www.cigseduction.com

Review copies available on request.

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Cigarette Seduction is a book that tells smokers what the cigarette brands say about them and their deepest anxieties and how they can use the knowledge to quit - for good. 

Banning Menthols is the Crack vs. Powder Argument Again......

The FDA wants to ban menthols! Hooray - one more nail in the coffin of smoking.....or is it?

My guess is that the ban will turn out to be illegal since the FDA allows many other additives in cigarettes like glycerine and allegedly cocoa - so why go after menthols?

Then there is the racist angle - African-Americans and Latinos typically smoke menthols - especially in the teen years. That forces African-Americans into an awkward debate: smoking is bad but why is our bad somehow worse than yours? Oh right, you’re helping us.

The real issue here is – where do the do-gooders want us to go? Smokers aren't just suckers hooked by tobacco companies. They usually smoke for a reason. On a practical level this ban will force people to alternatives. Safer ones we think, like e-Cigarettes. Or off-prescription substances like Adderol and Valium. All illegal or frowned upon by the
FDA.

The point is that people aren't going to quit just because someone tells them to and when government officials dictate a solution without any thought to smokers motivation or alternatives, they generally create a situation worse than they started with.

This is a zero-sum game. Take away smoking and people will reach for something else. We need to talk long and hard about the something else……

Footnote:

Once upon a time menthols were the choice of white blue collar workers so things like who smokes menthols and why, could change, of course.

Wall Street Journal on the proposed Menthol ban.


Chicago Tribune on the Debate in the African American Community