10 ways to Snuff Out Smoking

10 ways to Snuff Out Smoking
By: P. Gunasegaram
p.guna@thestar.com.my


Everybody, including tobacco companies, is now agreed that smoking is detrimental to good health. You only have to look at the cigarette packets to know this.

But nicotine is a powerful addictive drug. If you get hooked, it is very tough to give it up.

The best cure is prevention — stop people from taking up the smoking habit in the first place. That means the target must be the young — discourage them by all means fair from picking up the habit in the first place.

This does not mean that the effort to encourage smokers to give up should be stopped altogether. Many people have given up smoking, and others need to be encouraged in this.

Smoking, after all, is the number one cause of preventable disease. It raises the possibility of getting cancer, it exacerbates all manner of respiratory ailments and directly contributes to others, and it increases the incidence of heart disease.

We need guts and gumption to deal with this. Here are 10 ways to show we have it.

1. Increase cigarette prices. This, done by raising taxes, is probably the most effective way of discouraging the habit, short of banning it outright. But the problem is that it encourages the sale of contraband cigarettes on which tax has not been paid.

Thus, increasing cigarette prices must be accompanied by vigorous attempts to stamp out the sale of illegal cigarettes. Which leads us to the next point.

2. Check sales of contraband cigarettes. Not only does this require that Customs officers work tirelessly and without favour but it also requires the clear identification of cigarettes on which duty has not been paid.

It also requires strict monitoring of international and local cigarette companies to ensure that their output does not get to smugglers.

If this is successful on a global basis, then no cigarette company can sell to a smuggler and the supply source will be throttled. One simple way of doing this is in Point 3.

3. Specify the region of sale on the pack. All cigarettes sold in Malaysia should have a clear label saying that the cigarettes are for sale only in Malaysia. Any cigarette that does not have this marking on the pack should be considered contraband and heavy penalties should be levied on those selling such cigarettes.

This is simple and effective in fighting contraband sales, but cigarettes sold in Malaysia don’t carry such a statement.

4. Restrict outlets that sell cigarettes. Considering the harm that cigarettes do, the outlets which sell cigarettes should be severely limited. Right now cigarettes are available just about everywhere — corner shops, convenience stores, grocers, supermarkets, five-foot ways, stalls, etc.

The Government should license the sale of cigarettes to a limited number of outlets, much like they do for liquor, so that you need a cigarette licence to sell cigarettes. This will be a powerful tool to limit cigarette distribution.

5. Enforce laws against cigarette smoking. There are already many laws against cigarette smoking but these are not sufficiently enforced. People still smoke while driving, on buses, in eating places and so on.

And many places still sell cigarettes loose, encouraging the young to experiment with smoking cheaply. The laws must be enforced strictly if they are to work.

6. Do away with smoking areas in restaurants. It is a great annoyance to non-smokers that some of the best seats often seem to be in the smoking sections – those with a view and facing open areas.

Often these areas are not sealed off from the non-smoking areas but are contiguous with them. With enough smokers, there will still be smoke in the restaurant.

The best thing to do is to do away with smoking areas in restaurants altogether. That means smokers will have to get up, leave the premises and smoke in an open area.

7. Ban smoking in all public places, including pubs. A source of constant irritation is that there is just about no pub or nightclub that one can go to without being inundated with smoke which gets into your nose, eyes, hair and even clothes. When you leave these places you almost smell like an ashtray.

There should be a strict ban on smoking in all public spaces, including pubs and nightclubs.

8. Educate the public. Public education is a continuous process, and including proper education about smoking and its dangers in the school curriculum is a very good idea.

What the authorities should also be thinking about is to reinforce this periodically by appropriate programmes, advertising and plain talk. Sometimes, shock-effect advertisements may not have the intended results because the public may perceive them to be stretching the truth.

9. Move tobacco farmers to alternative employment. Tobacco farming has been encouraged by tobacco companies so as to strengthen their argument that the contribution of tobacco to the national economy is significant.

It is better to move tobacco farmers to alternative, more socially accepted occupations so that they are not used to promote tobacco consumption.

10. Adhere to international codes, rules and regulations. The world at large has recognised the dangers of smoking. Most countries in the world are signatories to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which sets out measures that can be taken to discourage smoking.

By adhering to provisions of the code, Malaysia can move forward in the fight against smoking, which statistics show is becoming an increasingly serious problem here.

A phased series of actions based on these lines will go a long way towards checking smoking among our children and discouraging smokers from, well, smoking, thereby reducing the incidence of smoking overall.

It is important not to pull punches because of the cost it might inflict on the tobacco industry. The economic damage that smoking causes through health and productivity costs is far more than the benefits the industry contributes.

> Managing editor P. Gunasegaram knows how addictive cigarettes are — sometimes he still pines for a puff.

Source: Views, The Star, September 25, 2009

Easy ways to quit smoking

Easy ways to quit smoking

The problem with most smokers is that they wish to recover quickly from the nicotine damage, well I'm afraid there are very few easy ways to quit smoking. Easy ways to quit smoking exist but they are not as done-in-a-minute as they say and you will need a lot of determination and courage to succeed. The truth is that nowadays we need fast solutions to critical problems. Where can one look for easy ways to quit smoking? The most common answer would be on the Internet. High levels of stress are one of the biggest problems when you try to use easy ways to quit smoking and we must admit that usually our lives have a crazy rhythm. This is why I can't say that one single easy way to quit smoking really exists though theoretically there are alternatives. The cold turkey method is very disputed as some people have cured themselves using this technique while many others didn't find any relief.

I consider that the cold turkey is one easy way to quit smoking though it hasn't been confirmed yet to be highly effective. This is the theoretical easy way to quit smoking and it stands valid for those who smoke like twenty cigarettes a day. It also applies to someone that is highly-motivated by some external extreme factor. Once you feel your life at risk, you take the cold turkey method as one easy way to quit smoking. Therefore such easy ways to quit smoking do work but their effectiveness depends on lots of individual independent factors that vary from case to case.

It is normal to learn from the beginning that the easy way to quit smoking requires sacrifice and determination too. If you have a powerfully motivating factor like an illness caused by tobacco then your chances of success increase significantly. If you opt for one of the so called easy ways to quit smoking like acupuncture or over the counter treatments you considerably reduce the amount of the withdrawal symptoms. If you haven't decided yet which of the easy ways to quit smoking to try maybe surfing the web is a good idea and I would recommend www.quit-smoking-expert.com to learn some tips for a healthier lifestyle. Keep in mind, however, that nothing works wonders and that easy ways to quit smoking also depend on you.

The best way to stop smoking

Finding the best way to stop smoking is something almost impossible because every person reacts differently to various stimuli or triggers so there are very slight chances for someone to come up with the best way to stop smoking that will help everybody. The fact is that any smoker who wants to quit must first have a strong reason to do so, it is almost impossible to find the best way to stop smoking unless you believe in it. If you ask ten persons who quit smoking what the secret is you will receive 80% different answers, this statistics simply shows how hard it is for science to develop the best way to stop smoking. So practically everyone is encouraged to use whatever methods necessary to eliminate this problem. As one best way to stop smoking, I've read about who wrote on a list all the reasons for quitting, thus every time the need for a cigarette appeared she simple took a look at the list and remembered how bad smoking is.

Many smokers turn to medication and discussion groups as the best way to stop smoking, some even choose to change all their life eliminating the activities that encourage smoking. Such decisions make the best way to stop smoking within a specific case, the chance to work the same way for another person is very low. For some people there are alternative best ways to stop smoking, which include spiritual practices that bring about inner balance and positive thinking. For those of you that are eager to try some sort of spiritual courses to recover your health, read all the information you find and always turn to a specialist for such sessions. When talking about classical medicine miraculous cures as the best ways to stop smoking don't exist, so you shouldn't believe claims that someone discovered the best way to stop smoking that works within a blink of an eye.

Many smokes fear to search for the best way to stop smoking in their case because deep down inside, they don't want to quit for a variety of reasons. The weight problem is the main argument, though in fact doctors showed that overweight is more a metabolism problem that nicotine-related one. Finding the best way to stop smoking is a challenge for everybody, it can be discovered more easily by people who have a stronger character, this is why many find quitting the hardest thing they've ever tried while others say that they simply quit without medication or any other help. If you like searching the Internet for solution you can take a look over www.quit-smoking-expert.com it might give you some valuable information.

Stop smoking patches

Stop smoking patch treatments have decent rates of success for those who want to quit; the quit smoking patch contains different quantities of nicotine assisting all kinds of smokers. A cigarette usually contains 1 mg of nicotine, so if you are used to smoking half a packet a day then it would be recommended to use a stop smoking patch that contains 14 mg of nicotine in order to help you. Using a stop smoking patch theoretically won't harm you in any way, it will simply supply your body the amount of needed nicotine while helping you get rid from the routines and habit of smoking. Normally a stop smoking patch costs between 2 and 3 dollars but in some US regions it might even be free, depending on the local anti-smoking campaigns.

The stop smoking patches cost varies not based on the amount of nicotine that they contain but on the size and nature of the adhesive that is used to hold the patch properly. As a cost-cutting technique some people buy stop smoking patches that contain a larger quantity of nicotine and cut them into smaller pieces. Producers say that in this way nicotine from the stop smoking patch won't be absorbed properly into the body but there isn't any solid evidence to support or disclaim their point of view. When speaking about the stop smoking patches efficiency we must say that less than 10% of the smokers who try them really solve their problem. If the persons are also well counseled the percentage hits 25%. Maybe the numbers aren't the best you've seen but with the proper life style, the effectiveness of stop smoking patches gets higher.

Statistics show that more than 22% of the smokers who have tried any form of stop smoking patch succeeded. So experts recommend them as being a cheap and good solution for any smoker who wants to quit this deadly habit. As possible side effects of the stop smoking patch we could mention increased level of dreams during sleep time but this was encountered only with the 24 hour quit smoking patches. In several remote cases the patient suffered death when combining a large number of patches with smoking and alcohol, in all reported cases the companies producing the stop smoking patches couldn't be blamed for the accident as the person didn't follow medical advice nor did he / she consider the warnings on the patch label. For more information about how to quit smoking visit www.quit-smoking-expert.com or any other reliable source on the Internet.

Stop smoking in one hour

Commercials and advertising campaigns aimed at smokers who want to quit promise stop smoking in one hour. Nevertheless, since we know how strenuous the effort to quit is, one has to wonder how effective that could be. Can one really stop smoking in one hour? The hypnosis adepts say it is possible for one to stop smoking in one hour during a procedure where your subconscious is freed from the nicotine addiction. Most alternative therapy practitioners use the “stop-smoking-in-one-hour” kind of promotion to attract customers and prove that their methods really work. Moreover, they claim that one has almost zero chances of relapsing, since the smoking rejection is implemented at the deepest level of our mind. Plus, when you stop smoking in one hour, you don't run the risk of withdrawal symptoms.

If you search the Internet for stop smoking in one hour tips, you'll find plenty of testimonials of people who have improved their lives in sixty minutes. You don't have to take everything you read there for granted, feel free to go directly to clinics that use alternative therapies and specific programs meant to help you stop smoking in one hour. It may sound incredible, but there are cases of heavy smokers who used to have like a packet or more a day, completely recovered without the side effects of nicotine substitutes or the unpleasant craving symptoms. Therefore, for a smoker who wants to be rid of a bad habit in no time, the stop smoking in one hour offer is an advantageous opportunity.

There are all sorts of materials meant to assist you in the attempt to stop smoking in one hour. There are hypno-therapeutic sessions recoded on videos or DVD together with detailed instructions, which can be ordered online and used in the privacy of your home. Most of the stop smoking in one hour guides, play on relaxation techniques and slight forms of hypnosis, however, not everyone is pleased about being hypnotized by watching a video. Therefore, for anyone who'd rather have a stop smoking in one hour live session, it is good to find a professional therapist and check for his or her credentials before undergoing any procedure. You can even make several appointments and check on the various methods alternative therapies involve. Learning about the costs is a very important part of the issue too, so, be careful!