We are at the end of the smoker's era

There are eras in the history that people took in some poisoned stuffs. About two thousand years ago, in China, emperors took pills containing heavy metal such as mercury, to hope to live longer. Around 1500 years ago, some other chemicals which are extracted from stones are very popular. People ate a combo of them because it made them high. They all disappear now. Smoking, no difference to their ancestors, will disappear in the future for sure. And what is more encouraging is that the time is coming soon.

The smokers are 25% of total people in the U.S. now. But they are mostly people above mid-age or even older. In universities, smokers are rare among students. It is also estimated that in 2025, smokers in the U.S. will be less than 10% of the total population. It is apparently that we are on the tail of this smokers era that lasts for a hundred year or even more.

It is good that policies are applied consistently, which will push the era to its end faster.

Besides the tax-raising for cigarettes, here is another one:

"The U.S. senate recently approved tighter control over cigarettes and related tobacco products. This decision will empower federal health officials to strictly regulate smoking. The FDA is now expected to impose stricter controls over the manufacture and marketing of tobacco products, which kill about 50% of regular users."

It includes:

• ban the tobacco flavorings, which lure the first-time smokers;
• change the color of the ads to black and white;
• ban the tobacco ads in the vicinity of playgrounds and schools;
• further raise the price;

and more.

Quit smoking injection, sounds crazy to me

An innovation in quit smoking research is what called quit smoking injection. What is it? Basically, your body is injected with some chemicals, which can remove your response to the nicotine. My understanding is that you need to give up some of the functions of your neurons to kick off your smoking habit.

"It is a shot of scopolamine that is given to the individual who wishes to quit. It is generally used as an anesthetic as well as to make motion sickness better. It is also used as a temporarily treat Parkinson’s disease. It is basically a chemical that affects the brain.
This chemical that in injected helps in blocking the neuro-receptors that respond to nicotine in the brain. Due to this, when an individual smokes after being given this shot, the pleasure areas in the brain are not activated. This is because the chemical blocks receptors and so the brain is unaware that nicotine is in the body. This makes the act of smoking less and less enjoyable every time the individual smokes. Eventually, the individual can quit as there is no motivation to continue."

Side effects are as follows:

• Dizziness
• Blurry vision
• Difficulty in urination
• Dry mouth
• Fever
• Delirium and hallucinations
• Sensitivity to light

Jesus! Why not just cut off my fingers, then I have to quit smoking because I can not hold the cigarette between my fingers any more? Are we really so helpless that we need to sacrifice so much to quit smoking? No! Of course not. If you understand why you smoke and master the real technique, quit smoking is the easiest thing, just like how I quit. On the other hand, if you have not fully understood, even if you quit temporarily, later sometime, if the reason upon which you quit disappears, you will light up a cigarette again. In this injection case, what if later someday, the respond to nicotine comes back, and you by chance decide to take some smoke? That chance exists if you don't get rid off smoking habit from your subconsciousness.

So, be rational and find the right way to quit smoking happily.

Nicotine Replacement Therapy?

What is the most popular smoking cessation method you saw on ads? It is probably nicotine replacement therapy.

It includes:

• Nicotine gum
• Nicotine patch
• Nicotine spray

and more...

Firstly, I personally don't believe in those fancy products. It is like chicken wings in different sauces, e.g., hot sauce, BBQ sauce, sweet sauce, garlic sauce, etc. The versatile sauces are only used to attract customers. In terms of nutrition, you can hardly say that hot sauced wings are better than BBQ sauced. Similarly, I believe if Nicotine replacement is effective, whatever products such as nicotine gum or patch would be roughly same effective. If you find any product works, just stick to it. There is no need to change to a newer nicotine replacement product.

Secondly, I don't believe in nicotine replacement. It is simple to me that if I'm addicted to heroin powder, will heroin injection help me to quit? If taking McDonald make me fat, will moving to KFC makes me skinny? The answer is no! You must entirely stop taking what is harmful to you, to get rid of it.

As I talked in smoker's psychology, without fully understanding the essentialness of smoking, those methods are useless. On the other hand, if you deeply know why you smoke and why you need to quit, withdrawal symptom will become very trivial. And there is no need to use any nicotine replacement therapy.

The last cigarette

You will successfully quit smoking if you drop "the last cigarette".

As a frequent smoking quitter, we always have the thought like, "after the last cigarette, I will quit". Then we smoke the "last cigarette" thoroughly, in an attached emotion. We feel like we are leaving the best friend. Later, for sure we pick up smoking again.

"Last cigarette" is a good example of the confusing of what nicotine tells you, and what your real thought is. The "last cigarette" illusion is what the nicotine creates in your mind, to let you feel that you are sacrificing some benefit, say smoking, to exchange for your health. But the truth is, you are not sacrificing anything by quitting smoking. It is easy if you consider nicotine addiction as an illness. For example, will you feel that you sacrifice something when you recover from a bad headache? Will you try to seriously feel the last piece of headache before it is totally removed from your head? Of course not. The only difference is that headache doesn't bring you the addiction but nicotine does.

Let me tell you my quiting story. I have the last cigarette left in my pocket when I was reading Allen's quit-smoking book. I was so inspired by the book at that moment and decided to quit. I held the last cigarette in my hand and thought, I will finish the last one enjoyingly then quit. However, I suddenly realized that THERE IS NO NEED TO SMOKE THE LAST ONE if I want quit. It is ridiculous that I decide to quit but insist to take the last one. How could the thought of smoke-the-last-one come up in my mind? Of course, it is what my nicotine in my body tells me. Then guess what, I threw my last cigarette in the trash, and feel very relieve. You can never get that kind of relief if you smoke the last one.

Smoking the last one will put something in your subconsciousness, that you are not actively quiting smoking, but are separated with smoking habit, your best friend, by some external force, say the concern to your health. But trashing the last one will make you feel that you actively leave smoking habit, instead of pushed away by some others.

Just trash the last one. After that you will be amazing of the whole new feeling that you never experienced before immediately after you quit, the feeling that is not depressing or losing something as you frequently felt in the past. It is a feeling of fulfillment and rebirth.

Go feel it!

Common excuses a smoker uses when he wants smoking

There are only one real reason: nicotine.

The following are common excuse:

• I feel stressful.
• I need take a rest.
• Smoking a cigarette makes my meal complete.
• This is my last cigarette.
• Smoking the first third of the cigarette will do minimum harm to my health.
• I have quited for a while, I think taking this one will not make me resume smoking, why not try one. (This is the most stupid excuse!)
• I will enjoy smoking for now, I believe I will quit later some time.