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Tag: Nicotine

  • Quit Smoking – But Don’t Use E-Cigarettes

    Experts claim that smoking is an addiction similar to a heroine addiction because nicotine is just as difficult to quit.

    The premise behind quitting cigarettes, aside from the health benefits from quitting now, is that the biggest percentage of smoking is habit. The phone rings, a smoker picks up a cig, a cup of coffee stimulates the habit to smoke, well, you get the general idea.

    The biggest hurdle in quitting smoking is breaking the habit. Sure the addiction is tough, but after 3 days or perhaps sooner, that nicotine craving diminishes and is gone, and what you feel afterward is the urge to continue the habit.

    So if quitting is mostly about breaking a habit, how much sense does it make to use E-cigarettes?

    Although those little electronic smoking devices were designed to eliminate smoking the real thing, smoking them will not ease the cravings for the real thing, over time.

    Youth who were smoking electronic cigarettes in a desperate bid to quit smoking ended up smoking even more on a regular basis.

    And since E-cigarettes come with nicotine infused juices, what is the point? Users say that the point is being able to smoke in public, where many establishments have banned smoking, even in bars and night clubs.

    And ad campaigns tout them as the solution to cigarette smoking, but that is just not the case.

    Contrary to expectations, the young were not weaned off the real stuff thanks to e-cigarettes. Actually, they ended up getting even more addicted to the “habit” and it has become a rarity to find a person smoking an e-cigarette who quit smoking altogether.

    They just don’t help with the most difficult task, the 21-day rule for breaking a habit.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Quit Smoking With Cigarettes That Might Explode?

    It’s hard to be a smoker in 2013.

    Law after law and policy after policy has severely limited the range of locations where those pressed for a nicotine fix can puff away in peace. Cigarette prices are higher than ever, and the product is routinely maligned and protested.

    After decades of traditional smoking cigarettes coming under attack, there has been a rise in the fortune of the electronic “smokeless” cigarette industry. Unlike regular cigarettes, electronic versions boast being able to offer up the desired nicotine fix while inhibiting dangerous toxins and chemicals. Additionally, being smokeless is supposed to mean a reduction in second-hand smoke exposure. While the industry makes no direct guarantees, it has been implied that if you’re going to smoke, e-cigarettes are the safer and less addictive alternative.

     

     

    Anti-smoking advocates are not convinced. According to the New York Daily News, a move has been made in New York City to ban smoke-less cigarettes from the same public places as regular cigarettes. The reason is due to concern over a lack of proof that electronic cigarettes are actually safe. This concern moves beyond the state of New York as e-cigarettes are becoming a global phenomenon.

    Aside from the potentially addictive nature of e-cigarettes, there is another cause for concern. Some electronic cigarettes when faulty have the nasty habit of exploding. In the case of one unfortunate man, while in his mouth. Because of the electric nature of the cigarettes and how they’re charged, there are related issues that can cause an entirely different set of safety needs. As these products are not currently relegated by the FDA, there is no telling how and when faulty products might hurt users.

    Electronic cigarettes may in time prove to be free of toxins and safer than normal cigarettes, with or without the explosions. Still, the possibility makes one wonder why those looking to quit don’t opt for nicotine patches. After all, if one is going to get their nicotine fix, the arguably safer option is the one that has no chance of literally blowing up in your face.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons, 1 and 2

  • E-Cigarettes Have High Rate of Usage in Teen Market

    The results of an e-cigarette study at UC San Francisco were recently released. In the study, conducted by postdoctoral fellow Sungkyu Lee, researchers focused on the data obtained in a national Web-based survey of 75,643 adolescents in Korea. The survey data comes from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior research completed in 2011 by the Korea Centers for Disease Control.

    In the study, Lee found that the usage of electronic cigarettes by adolescents in grades 7-12 has rapidly risen since the device was first introduced in 2008 – at that time, less than 1% of adolescents had tried the e-cigarette. By the study in 2011, more than 9% of the students studied had used, or regularly use, electronic cigarettes.

    Electronic cigarettes, dubbed “e-cigarettes,” are nicotine-releasing devices that are powered by batteries. While non-nicotine cartridges are available, most users of the device use cartridges that contain nicotine. They release other chemicals, as well, when the user inhales the nicotine vapor.

    Since first hitting the market, the electronic devices have been hailed as being many times healthier than conventional cigarettes, although many doctors and experts debate that. The e-cigarettes have gained popularity, as well from Hollywood stars’ use of them.

    In 2010, Katherine Heigl discussed her use of the device on Late Night with David Letterman. Heigl was a conventional cigarette smoker for many years, and decided to quit after adopting her daughter. However, all of the methods she tried were fruitless – until she found the e-cigarette. She does admit, though, that she is addicted to the electronic version of cigarettes now.

    Lee’s study was the first to analyze electronic cigarette usage in adolescents, and he now works for the National Evidence-Based Healthcare Collaborating Agency in Korea.

    The Korean study also indicated that 4 out of 5 adolescent users of the battery-powered cigarettes were also smokers of regular cigarettes.

    Other interesting conclusions from the study show that the majority of adolescent e-cigarette users were either trying to quit smoking conventional cigarettes, or habitually smoke both conventional and e-cigarettes. It also showed that the use of electronic cigarettes in adolescents greatly increase the odds that the student will end up being a conventional smoker.

    In the U.S., the federally-run Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted their own study, and reported that most adolescents who had tried the e-cigarette had also smoked regular cigarettes. As of 2012, more than 1.78 million teens and adolecents had tried smoking an electronic cigarette.

    A professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at UCSF, Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, said, “We are witnessing the beginning of a new phase of the nicotine epidemic and a new route to nicotine addiction for kids,” according to Science Daily.

    The entire study can be found in the current issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

    Main image courtesy gloriaricardi via Wikimedia Commons.