eCigs or Xanax - You Decide

Health groups want to ban eCigs but forget how much anti-depressants have replaced cigarettes.

The truth about cigarettes is that they are a kind of psychic self-medication yet this never comes up in the public health or legislative debate.

This graphic shows that smoking is not a zero-sum game. When people quit they move on to something else. In many cases, is antidepressants.

Isn't it time to discuss...?

(Story in NY Times) http://nyti.ms/1g5yXgc

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.

# # #

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

Why the FDA and Smoking Establishment are Crucifying e-Cigarettes

By Alan Brody

If you had a problem that killed 400,000 people a year and affected the health of 40 million you’d think that anything that improves the situation is worth supporting. When it comes to smoking however, you would be dead wrong.

In 2004 a Chinese company created what is now called the e-Cigarette, a device that emulates a cigarette by delivering a flavored vapor with – or without nicotine. The vapor uses propylene glycol, a liquid that is generally considered safe for consumption by the FDA and appears in many food products.

There are several million users worldwide and while there are no safety studies, there are not reports of any harm either.

The advantage to smokers is they no longer have cancer-causing tars invading their lungs, they stop coughing, no longer smell and since the vapor is harmless, they can stay indoors and vape because there is no second-hand smoke problem.

It also saves smokers in New York enough money to make the payments on a mid-size car.

Amazingly, however, the FDA is against it. They are trying to block the importers of these product and are in Federal Court fighting for their right to ban these products.

It may be easy enough to understand the FDA’s need for territorial protection and ultimately a way to extract tax and regulatory revenue.

But how do you explain Public Health’s near unified opposition to e-Cigarettes?  American Lung, American Cancer as well as Tobacco-Free Kids are opposed to them.

Their arguments range from – “It’s not proven!” [Cigarettes are proven, of course, to kill] to it “attracts children.”

The best part is how small towns in New Jersey and Long Island have banned or limited the sale and use of these products. Suddenly, politicians who can’t fix their budgets have the time and energy to become expert enough on these products to prohibit them.

Is it possible that the anti-smoking establishment has obviously stopped working for the American people to become a symbiotic partner of the tobacco industry in sucking up the lavish tax handouts they generate.

Perversely, this opposition is only going help sell more e-Cigarettes in the long run. The reason is that most smokers hate e-Cigarettes because they leave out so much of what makes puffing pleasurable: the sensuous smoke, the softness of tobacco, the seduction of danger are all gone. Instead, you get this cool, clinical haze that studies have shown, may not even deliver much nicotine at all. Less than 1/40^th of smokers use these products. However, that will change because banning them will only make them more dangerous and by the perverse logic of smoking, more desirable.

Without getting too deep into the motivation for smoking let it be said that the industry discovered as early as 1922 that it had a lot more to do with the mind and spirit than the body. We start smoking in our adult initiation years when we have image and self-esteem issues. We also want to belong. So we do crazy things like get tattooed, body pierced, do extreme sport and party crazy, mange to get through school, get into trouble, fights, illegally drunk, vote, enroll in the military and so on. Smoking used to be our little helper. If you went asleep during the Mad Men years and awoke today like a 21st Century Rip van Winkle, you would find that all the Marlboro Country and Winston ads have gone – only to be replaced by prescription drug ads for exactly the things that bother us: sex, mental happiness, ADD and a few other things as well.

In other words – we need little helpers. It’s a guilty pleasure if you smoke it and a legitimate need if your doctor prescribes but the numbers tell us that millions are going to seek it out regardless. It exists somewhere between folk remedies and faith healing. So is it fair for a few bureaucrats and do-gooders to dictate human behavior – especially when they have their hands in the public purse?

Smoking is a deep and troubling issue. It is the first industry of this country - we probably wouldn’t be here without it since its very addiction probably made pioneers persevere in an unwelcoming colony. We are in denial of its actual role in our lives. The net result is that we have driven its evolution to China, have reinstituted creeping prohibition and are about to create a new black market and political corruption all over again.

It is tie for an honest and open discussion about smoking again - and now, e-Cigarettes.

Alan Brody is the author of Cigarette Seduction www.cigseduction.com and a former columnist with Advertising Age/Creativity and ADWEEK’s Marketing Computers.

Fireworks and Insight on the Dr. Stan Frager Show!

If you weren't able to take your attention off the Emmy's to listen to this fascinating conversation about America's first industry and how it really influences our lives, here is a summary.
It is like nothing you have ever heard about the smoking issue. That's a promise!

Fireworks and Insight on the Dr. Stan Frager Show!

What does smoking have to do with President Obama, Britney Spears and the Emmy-Award-winning "Mad Men?" Has smoking been reduced only to be overtaken by prescription drugs like Ridalin and Prozac - in effect, recasting smoking as a little understood form of self-medication. These were some of the issues discussed by "Cigarette Seduction" author, Alan Brody on the Dr. Stan Frager show on WGTK on Sunday night in the heart of tobacco country, Louisville, Kentucky.

"Mad Men" may sparkle with retro sexism and non-PC joie de vivre but it is also about a group of execs who believed they knew something about Americans that few others did. Thanks to a new kind of "motivational research" chronicled in Vance Packard's "Hidden Persuaders" that revolutionized Madison Ave. in the 50's and 60's they understood the psychological reasons why people really bought products. To most of their clients, it was a revelation.

With cigarettes, marketers understood it to be something we do at the initiation period of our lives and it holds a powerful, if little understood force over the lives of smokers. Each brand has a specific meaning that was researched and developed by psychoanalytically trained market researchers beginning in 1922, when American Tobacco hired America's first Freudian, A.A. Brill to work on the Lucky Strike brand. As it happened, their PR man, Edward Bernays, was also Freud's American nephew.

The not-fully convinced Dr. Frager (himself a psychologist) bridled at Mr. Brody's comment that Camel smokers usually have "sexual issues." Dr. Frager even pointed out that "Freud said sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

Brody replied: "Freud was a cigar smoker who died of throat cancer. He was in denial."

Brody described how Marlboro was developed from the ashes, as it were, of what was once an exclusive woman's brand. In its new form, when it was reintroduced in the early 50's, its package had been developed to look like a medal, replete with the legend: "Veni. Vidi. Vici." (I came. I saw. I conquered.)

This implies Marlboro smokers have a militaristic or command-and-control issue. In the case of President Obama, it probably serves as part of his military empowerment, making it unlikely that he quit as long as he in charge of a war and commands generals. Britney Spears, who's dancing is highly energetic and meticulously rehearsed was seen smoking this brand just before her famous breakdown, suggesting that it was a form of rebellion against the regimentation in her performance schedule. She has not been seen with a cigarette lately and her career appears back on track.

Most importantly, knowing their brand helps people unravel their true reasons for smoking and leads to the best way to quit for good. Using the book's "Inner Quitting" method Brody recommends starting with the "unsmoking" technique - rolling back the years to that time in life when they started. This enables smokers to tackle the real challenge of quitting, which is not the addiction (that can be overcome in 3 days and best done when you have flu or a bad cold), but the mental part. This is the true abyss that smokers fear.

By facing the issue that lead them to smoking (we may start smoking with our friends but we become addicted and bond for our own personal reasons) "Inner Quitting" shows how to use the newfound knowledge to overcome smoking for good. This is no patch - although that can help - but it is essentially borrowing the technique those fortunate people you probably know who claim they were able to spontaneously quit. While they were just lucky, everyone else has to work at it and "Cigarette Seduction" explains how.

In closing, Mr. Brody talked briefly about the new Electronic Cigarettes and how they are likely to comprise as much as 50% of the market within 5 years.

To learn more about "Cigarette Seduction," listen to Mr. Brody's interview or view his videos, visit www.cigseduciton.com

To request a review copy please contact Ellen Schaeffer at ViziPress (212) 624-9110 or ellens@vizipress.com

When Your President Can't Quit - What Chance Do You Have?

According to this news report President Obama can't quit. He can only make sure the Press doesn't see him.....

So how does that help you, if you're a smoker? Just this:

1. Smoking is not trivial and it deserves some respect.....
2. e-Cigarettes are a fantastic solution.

What tobacco companies discovered in the 50's is that cigarettes are nature's miraculous pacifier for adults and it operates at a totally unconscious level.

If you are lucky enough to quit spontaneously - or near spontaneously - good luck to you! But most people struggle because this is so deep and so unconscious that they feel guilty or self-destructive enough not to care.

We can't solve this issue here. Nor can President Obama!

What we can tell you is to walk - no run - to your nearest e-Cigarette supplier, because that can change your life and set you on your way to quitting without actually quitting. At least not at first.....

If you buy a copy of Cigarette Seduction - even the eBook - you get a fully functioning 5 day-long eCigarette pack FREE. Or you can just buy it and forget the book.

What you can't forget is this habit that dogs you just like it dogs he Commander-in-Chief.