Smoking Addiction

Addicts under the addictive spell of smoking always have a reason or an excuse to smoke, whether these make sense or not. The real question is whether they truly believe their lives will be better if they free themselves from the familiar thrall that smoking reliably provides them.

Although clinical trials show nicotine replacement therapy patients do better at quitting cigarettes, surveys of smokers who have quit or tried to quit typically do not find any advantage for those who rely on NRT.

A genuine decision to quit calls for a shift into a new relationship with the hard-edged reality of smoking. At this time of year winter blues and holiday stress, as well as holiday hype and disappointments, provide plenty of triggers for smoking addiction to feed upon.

Addicted smokers are unlikely to ever become recreational smokers, as much as they wish they could. The wish to "just have one" is a wish that, for most addicts who successfully quit their drug, must remain unfulfilled.

When Don Draper lights up a Lucky Strike, the smokers in the "Mad Men" audience are simultaneously -- and likely unconsciously -- planning the actions...

"I'm on my 800th quit attempt," Justin Randolph, 28, announced recently on a Facebook page created by the New York City Department of Public Health ...

"How ridiculous," we think. "Coffee, addictive" -- what will they think of next." Let's dial back to 1964 -- the Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health. You know, the one that banned smoking.