Tobacco Abuse

A new study on nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) methods such as gums, nasal sprays, and patches suggests that they do not contribute to the success of a smoker’s decision to quit.

The research done at the Harvard University School of Public Health was released Monday which showed that people who quit smoking with or without the aid of NRTs still go into relapse after some time.

Lead researcher Hillel Alpert from Harvard confirmed the results of their work. “This study shows that using NRT is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long term than trying to quit on one’s own.”

Another disturbing finding that the group shared is one pertaining to heavy smokers who enlisted the aid of NRTs to quit. Without any professional help and guidance in the use of nicotine replacement, these heavy smokers were twice more likely to relapse compared to those who did not use any nicotine therapy.

Authors of the study attributed the failure of nicotine replacement therapy methods to become effective by the fact that smokers who use them do not follow instructions carefully with the majority not being able to sustain their use of NRT for eight consecutive weeks to become successful in quitting and instead are quick to make short cuts.

The industry that caters to those who want to quit smoking could be just as big as the tobacco industry itself. In 1996, over-the-counter sale of NRTs boosted sales of up to $800 million per year while those medications prescribed by doctors to help quit garnered an astounding $841 million in sales in 2007.

In a feature from the AFP, director for Harvard’s Center for Global Tobacco Control Gregory Connolly shares his opinion with what the results of the study might indicate. “What this study shows is the need for the Food and Drug Administration to approve only medications that have been proven to be effective in helping smokers quit in the long-term and to lower nicotine in order to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes.”