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The Myth of Nicotine Addiction (Encore)

February 22, 2014

smoking.jpeg"Governments, pharmaceutical companies,'big tobacco',
are all in cahoots to make people think smoking is addictive,
and quitting is difficult
. Neither is true."








Nicotine addiction is mostly in the mind. After reading Allen Carr's Easy Way to Quit Smoking, Nathan Weidmann was able to quit his 15-year 1-2 pack-a-day habit without difficulty.

"I was utterly sick of stinking and paying for my own demise, like choosing a toll bridge for jumping off."



From April 11, 2012
by Nathan Wiedmann
(henrymakow.com)


As if smoking doesn't take up enough time at work, some co-workers and I were discussing the effects of smoking and nicotine addiction.

Someone remarked that his doctor had said it could be harder to get off of nicotine than heroin. As a smoker, one could believe this.

However, after being nicotine free for three months now, I no longer agree. Nicotine withdrawal does not induce seizures or vomiting. In fact, in my experience, nicotine withdrawal is barely noticeable, and is easily neutralized.

Of course my co-workers scoffed at me. Even non-smokers believe that nicotine is a little demon ready to catch them if they let their guard down.

I'm only thirty, what did I know? I know that I smoked cigarettes regularly for nearly half of my life. Fifteen years of ever increasing amounts of tobacco and nicotine, I was no amateur. I could smoke with the best of them.

Certainly I knew that smoking was bad but this was full on cognitive dissonance. I would decry the toxic effects of fluoride, or artificial sweeteners, while puffing on a cigarette.

At 14, I would deride my friends for smoking; by 15, I was puffing away alongside them.

I could blame my parents' divorce or Holden Caulfield, but it goes back even further than that. A childhood friend and I would imitate our parents. Passing me his crayon he would say, "wanna 'moke?" I would accept, and we sat around puffing crayolas.
 
By the time I would successfully quit, I had felt that perhaps I would just choose a different day to quit: "Now is not the right time; what will I do at coffee break?"

EUREKA!

bookcarr.jpegI feared that that nicotine urge could never be fully subdued and I would be forever craving a smoke. Then my sister gave me Allen Carr's book, Easy Way to Stop Smoking.

I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to quit. I had made feeble attempts for a day or two other times and had tried the old 'I'll cut down" routine, without success. The best I thought I could hope for was to suddenly and magically be relieved of the urge.

But this time I was really ready, I really wanted to quit. I was smoking at least a pack a day, some days closer to two. I was sick of wheezing and waking up hacking, sick of wishing I could get a deep breath any time I wanted.

I was utterly sick of stinking and paying for my own demise, like choosing a toll bridge for jumping off.

I was in awe when my sister, just as much a nicotine fiend as I, quit with ease. No cravings she said, only disdain at the thought of her former slavish smoking self.

The cravings are all in the mind. It's the trap of thinking that we are giving up something truly enjoyable, that a little piece of us will be missing. Not the case. I regained my freedom, freedom from self imposed slavery.

It sounds hard to believe but I truly have had no cravings. I have had remembrances of smoking, when in situations where I would have smoked, but no desire.

I had a dream that I was chain smoking. In my dream, I was furious at myself for giving in. I was very happy when i woke up. I took a big deep breath, and carried on.

ALLEN CARR'S TEACHING

Allen Carr takes a unique approach: He destroys the myth about nicotine addiction.

He has had enormous success helping people to stop smoking by identifying the real reason for smoking: we are brainwashed to believe it is inherently enjoyable, and brainwashed to believe that it is hard to quit.

First of all, no one actually enjoys smoking. I could have told myself I did till I was blue in the face, but the fact is, no one enjoys the stinking alienation of hanging out in a freezing cold smoking area, nor the residual stench of cigarette.

And contrary to popular belief, the addiction is extremely mild. The nicotine metabolizes so fast that the only reason a smoker has another cigarette is because the nicotine from the last is nearly gone.

A five, ten, or twenty-year smoker is no more or less addicted than a forty -a-year smoker. It comes down to how much tobacco smoke one can tolerate, and the barely discernible effects of the nicotine.

allencarr.jpeg(left, Allen Carr)

A quick rush maybe? If that? Any excuses a smoker or a non smoker may believe about calming, stress-relieving, boredom relieving, post-meal enhancing effects of the cigarette are utterly false.

The cigarette does none of these things. The fact is that governments, pharmaceutical companies,'big tobacco', are all in cahoots to keep people smoking, and keep people believing that quitting is difficult.

This doesn't absolve the media, with their vast consortium of smoking movie cool-guys.

Smoking is very much about image, and most teenage 'rebels', with or without a cause, will be drawn to smoking. I know because I was one.

The government says 'ooh, they're so bad, they'll kill ya!' effective vilification,  all the while making tons of money from taxes, then pretending to sue 'big tobacco' to recover health care costs, what a joke.

The Ontario government thinks high taxes are a great deterrent from smoking, or is it the perfect way to keep everyone driving out to the native reserves to get their smokes cheap and tax free? 

The pharmaceutical companies offer their help with gums and patches, all the while still feeding that nicotine itch and portraying it as a nearly inescapable little demon. And the pills.

Anti-depressants are disguised as stop smoking aids. They actually admit in the pamphlets that it is not known how the drugs make you quit. I don't doubt that those big pharma wizards know precisely the psychological ill-effects of these potions.

The bottom line is that the well known toxic effects of smoking cigarettes should be enough to make anyone quit.

Many people continue to smoke because they believe it will be extremely difficult or even impossible to quit.

It is not. I implore anyone who wants to quit, or knows someone who does, to find a copy of 'Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking.'

--------------------------

 
First Comment from Richard:

I started smoking on overnight high school trip in 1971. I became a pack a day smoker immediately, moving to 2-3 packs within a year. In 1980 I paid a hypnotist a hefty fee to quit smoking.  I quit for a few weeks and started again, went back to the hypnotist and it didn't work. In the 90's I tried nicotine patches, which didn't stop me either. By 2000 I was beginning to have noticeable breathing difficulty breathing, but I rationalized that I needed to exercise more. In 2007 I found I could barely walk up stairs with gasping and stopping.  I felt like a weight was on my chest just walking in and out of stores. In 2008 I had a severe episode barely able to breathe that lasted for a few weeks.  Doctor told me I had 'COPD'.  That's a catchall term for 'breathing issues'. Early stages of emphysema showed up on my x-ray. By 2010 I could no longer rake the yard, climb a ladder, carry garbage to the curb without a cart, etc.  I'd been 'trying' to quit for for 3 years and believed I couldn't do it.

 In April I was hit so hard with inflammation of the lungs I became delirious gasping for breath a whole weekend waiting for Monday morning to see a doctor. That was the weekend I quit.  I simply had enough of it.   After I out of danger, I didn't want cigarettes - at all.  It was over. Gone.  Taken out of me.  I was delivered.   There was NO WITHDRAWAL. Now I believe that withdrawal symptoms are the effect of post-hypnotic suggestion what we read and see on TV, reinforced, naturally, by millions of smokers in denial.    The real pull of smoking, I believe, it the self-identification of being a smoker - It's 'glamor'.

Soon I realized that I COULD HAVE QUIT ANYTIME - all the way back to 1971.  All I had to do was want to.  Ever since I've told people that cigarettes aren't addictive.





Scruples - the game of moral dillemas

Comments for "The Myth of Nicotine Addiction (Encore)"

Anisha said (February 23, 2014):

Agreed Henry, all in the mind as all things are in the mind according to what we 'grok' (If I may borrow from Heinlein's book, 'Stranger in a Strange Land').

I only socially smoked since I was a teen and quit just by deciding I didn't like it at the moment. Then took it up casually off and on. I love a smoke when I am intensely engaged in creating something or deep in writing about something important to my soul.

A good smoke or two and many months may go by between. Its not just a myth, this 'idea' that one is addicted is a false one. Nothing more than a mind control trigger by the 'powers that were'.

Check out Edward Bernays at turn of 20th century and learn all about 'behavior modification', (euphemism for black sorcery), these corporations have perpetrated upon the undisciplined minds of the people. (Vipassana meditation practice can bring people out of the 'mass programming' out there).

I agree and relate wholeheartedly with Joni Mitchell, a shameless smoker, "It grounds me". Spot on! That said, when I choose to have a good smoke, I only smoke American Spirit, the silly 'organic' brand without pesticides spraying. lol


Bryan said (February 23, 2014):

I don't agree. Mainstream tobacco is specially designed to be addiction, and unadulterated tobacco is in fact enjoyable.

I think people used to take up the habit because it was indeed enjoyable - before it was adulterated to cause addiction.

I smoke unadulterated tobacco. I notice nicotine withdrawal within hours of not smoking. With mainstream tobacco however, it takes days, and by that time, one makes no association between not smoking, and nicotine withdrawal - or more specifically stated, withdrawal from the awful effects of mainstream tobacco, and this lack of reward makes recidivism more likely. It's also more likely that you'll never even make it to the point of withdrawal.

Unadulterated tobacco is wholesome by comparison. In moderation, I find it very enjoyable, satisfying. My overindulgence is by choice, as ideally, I'd only smoke one every few hours. With good tobacco, I can get down to one or two or none a day - no different than having a chewing gum habit.

Mainstream tobacco ruins the otherwise harmless indulgence of smoking. It's not that big of a deal.


Ted said (February 23, 2014):

Great article Henry. Thanks for the reference to Allen Carr. Found this quote from Mike Brown:

Remember when Surgeon General Everett Koop stated that tobacco was a harder habit to break than heroin? He was half right. All tobacco in America is sugar-cured. That's the habit people are trying to break--not tar and nicotine.


Shamus said (February 23, 2014):

I think the addiction to cigarettes is really about slavery. People are addicted to slavery.

I quit smoking the moment I realized they were controlling my mind. I was really dedicated, too.

Now, it's an act of defiance - every cigarette that I DON'T smoke is a nail in THEIR coffin. Like the awakening, people just don't get it until they're ready.

The comment about the reptilian aliens is funny - too bad it's true, though. Gnostics knew about the Archons.

One of the things that connects in my mind is the use of DMT or Ayahuasca to treat addiction. Hence the war on drugs.

All of this comes back around to mind control and slavery. Human conditioning.

https://sugamari.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/the-topic-of-topics/

All the rage now is people wondering why people are so angry all the time. And they can't get us fluoridated fast enough.

Thanks again, Henry. It seems like we are hitting them where it counts.


Andrew said (February 23, 2014):

There are two types of fool. Those who believe that they can never quit smoking because it is too addictive. The other is the type who believe smoking is not addictive at all. Both are wrong.

Smoking is addictive but mostly environmental factors are at play. If you work with a group of smokers who smoke, chances are that you will be smoking too.

Work or live with non-smokers, the opposite applies. At the end of the day, take charge of yourself and decide whether or not you will be nicotine-free. That is the only way.


Peter G said (February 23, 2014):

After reading this article i am tempted to say "so what"

The fact that some people find it harder to give up smoking than others is well known and i believe it is largely genetic in origin. It
is therefore only a small surprise to find that your sister (with similar genes) could give it up with ease.

I smoked for 28 years and subscribe to the as hard as heroin view that you mention and of course its all in the mind where else would an
addiction choose to reside. Eventually with the help of a Hypnotist called Johnathan Manning and the growing realization that i could not
otherwise afford the unsubsidized component of my daughters boarding school fees i gave it up on the 17th of December 2003 but the truth is
that a whole spectrum of opinions exists on this subject and like a rainbow each colour is equally true.

The only thing we can learn from all of this is how to disagree.


Jim said (February 23, 2014):

A supervisor of mine related this story to me after he had a heart attack:

The doctor comes into the hospital room...

Doctor: Well, we pulled you through that one. You'll be alright. But tell me, you used to be a smoker, right?

Supervisor: No, I smoke.

Doctor: Ahem... You USED to be a smoker, right???

Supervisor: Oh, ummm, I guess I was.

My supervisor hasn't had a cigarette since.


Kristina said (February 22, 2014):

I do not agree with this: http://henrymakow.com/the_myth_of_nicotine_addiction.html#sthash.C8jtoktT

as it can be terrible hard for some to finish smoking.

When I had just got saved I asked a preacher to pray for me and she put her hand on me and I got electricity through my chest and after that I have never smoked (34 years has gone) and never felt a need to smoke - not a bit.

Before that I had tried very hard to stop smoking but I couldn´t stop the habit even when I had very bad lungs (now healed).

I was a smoker for 17-teen years, but God´s grace helped me to be free!


MS said (May 28, 2012):

The way you put the words in this article opened & cleared my mind so easily instantly, it set me free.

Thanks to you, you made a miracle happen for me, i could simply stop smoking cigarettes after being addicted for over 50 years. I am not kidding. From one moment to the next after reading your precise words about it, i cut that string of mind control, just like that. It dawned on me that i was convinced that
tobacco smoking is addictive & hard to beat. Nothing could be further from the truth. Now i am smiling whenever i see a cigarette & have the choice if i want to smoke it or not. I am free. I am now really in control, it feels so good. I smoke only 3 or 4 cigarettes a day now, whenever i really want to.

I tell you why. JB made me realize in his response post, that smoking kept me safe from the reptilians.

He is right-on... they do not want to eat meat from smokers, they probably even stay away from smokers &
leave you alone. (Luckily Kettler's ETs are cleaning those monsters out finally)


JB said (April 13, 2012):

Smoking has been demonized to the extent that people assume 'of course its bad to smoke' - but is it really?

There is commercial tobacco and that is laced with poison. But there is natural tobacco also that is sold in the stores. I wonder if any of the studies linking tobacco with cancer have used chemical free organic tobacco for the testing.

I smell mind control - because in the 1980s I could smoke in high school. now people would look at you like a criminal if you offered a smoke to a 13 yr old. What changed? Has everyone spontaneously become "aware" of the dangers of smoking? or is it, as happens continually, that the culture has been reprogrammed?

Officialdom has put a lot of money and effort into getting people to quit smoking. I think its a valid to ask why would they do that when they want people sick and dying?

Its been suggested that the real reason they want people to quit smoking is.... drum roll.... because aliens don't like to consume the flesh of smokers. In this bizarre reality, is that so unthinkable? Is it worth consideration at least?

--

JB

That takes the cake for paranoid. Smoking is a filthy habit that imposes a stench on non-smokers. Cancer is expensive to treat. This is one area where government could gain credibility by curtailing, and make us think they do have our welfare at heart.

h
---

JB replies:

Is the imposition of stench on non smokers any worse that the rest of you bombarding my brain with your cell phone signals?

or is that OK because the mob is currently in favor of cell phones?

So I just have to put up with my brain being radiated but smoking is a filthy habit.

Such reasoning wreaks of democracy.

And who is to say its a filthy habit? there is no objective basis for that statement. Maybe I think its a filthy habit for people to touch door handles in public. I read that Muslims think shitting on a toilet is a filthy habit. You are only stating popular opinion.

Would you approach an Indian chief in a sacred ritual and knock the peace pipe out of his hand, saying "Put that dirty thing out!"

Further I challenge anyone to demonstrate that natural tobacco free of additives causes cancer.

when the entire society does a simultaneous lock-step 180 on a subject - mind control is at work. You should know that.

Paranoid? Oh good, so I can relax? Now that I know you have assessed the aliens presence and scientifically verified that their diet does not include human flesh I can sleep better. Thanks Henry!


Brent said (April 12, 2012):

I quit smoking while in de-tox for alcohol. I dismissed myself and went back to the book store and got Allens other book, "Easy way to Stop Drinking"

I sell the book now at
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-health-beauty/regina/alcohol-addiction-help/412769534


Debbie said (April 12, 2012):

Can I say that my husband gave up smoking after a 30 year addiction to smoking a packet a day and he did not even want to give up at the time.

I was talking to my naturopath and asked him how to give up smoking as I had just given up myself with severe asthma, so I was now nagging my husband to stop smoking as I could no longer stand the smell.

My naturopath said Vitamin C, good quality vitamin C, so we used the powdered form from Neo Life, which got rid of my asthma. However my husband, on the day he gave up smoking, he also gave up coffee (15 cups a day) red meat, sugar, milk, with no even a hint of a problem.

Sure he had tried lots of times before to stop smoking, but the vitamin c was just fantastic. He was speaking to the naturopath a couple of weeks later and told him how he was doing, and the naturopath said that even if the thought crossed your mind that you wouldn't mind a cigarette, just increase your vitamin c for a couple of days and you will be right.

There is a book that explains this same process in relation to drug addition, saying that you can cure drug addition totally with vitamin c.

The book is called Aids and the Time Bomb by a Dr John West (of course he could never get any of the established doctors to even look at his findings)
and this is the link where you can buy the book, http://www.alor.org/Library/Booklist.htm


The link to the bookstall has got a lot of amazing books.


Tom said (April 12, 2012):

YES!

When I was able to quit, it was because I dismissed the thought in the mind. and it went away. No after affects as the article says! BTW, no man told me this . .

Thanks for your stuff, great . . .


BG said (April 12, 2012):

"It's Easy to Quit Smoking!
I've Done It Thousands of Times!"
Mark Twain


Hi again, Saw your latest article re Smoking. Here's a few links that might help somebody:

1. For Christians (or anybody) who would like to take a scriptural route to quitting smoking, a 60-day email course w/mentoring assistance:

> "Breath of Life - Setting Captives Free":
> http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/courses/breath-of-life/

2. For anyone who would like to take a "fasting & health-nut" route to quitting smoking (this just arrived today, Wed. 4/11@5:30am, as a matter of fact! -- full copy below, FYI):

"04-11-2012 - PLEASE! Pass The Live-Food Message to friends who smoke, smoke, smoke their cigarettes...":
http://archive.aweber.com/4livefoodfactor/EZjwE/h/PLEASE_Pass_The_Live_Food.htm


Art said (April 12, 2012):

From the age of 16 to 38, I was a pack-a-day smoker. I started with Marlboro (who didn't? they were "cool" to a high school kid), then I moved on to Camel Wides (filtered), finally I smoked American Spirit (full strength). I was convinced, by then, that mainline cigarette makers were adding chemicals to their smokes to enhance addictive-ness. The "no-additives" pitch from American Spirit convinced me to switch.

I was 38 in the year 2000 and by that time cigarette smoking was getting to be quite expensive. It was time to give it up for good. I was not going to allow a cigarette to control my life. There was one thing regarding cigarette smoking that I was absolutely sure of ..... "no one has ever died from quitting smoking".

The first week was uncomfortable. All my friends were smoking away, trying to pull me back in. In every store that I shopped, hundreds of packs were for sale, prominently displayed. It was maddening.

Falling asleep was difficult, and I seemed to have a short fuse. The smallest things would set me off. I don't think that was a chemical change though, just normal life's irritants that were calmed by stepping away mentally (which was always accompanied by a smoke).

After the first week though, I was able to sleep like a baby for the first time since adolescence. The benefits of not smoking were now becoming evident, and the urge to light up was falling away quickly.

It wasn't long before cigarette smoking was in the past, never to be repeated.

I agree with this article in full. You don't need expensive patches and gums .... just the full knowledge that you WILL be okay without cigarettes. I guarantee that you will be alright. After all .... "no one has ever died from quitting smoking".


Tony Blizzard said (April 12, 2012):

I find the article on smoking true. As a young man I smoked three packs of Camels a day (no filters back then). Smoked them down to nothing, sometimes burning my lips. But when I decided to quit it was no real problem. Quit "cold turkey." Decided to chew toothpicks to replace the habitual feel of a cigarette between my lips but after three days my teeth were so sore from chewing on them that I quit and found they weren't necessary.

Have been telling people for years that all you need do is quit. Moreover, it is foolhardy to "cut back" to "lights" of any kind. It doesn't take a genius to realize that a smoker will go after the nicotine level of before which means he/she will buy twice as many cigarettes to get the same "kick." Clever gimmick by the tobacco companies to double their profit. I suppose the "patch and pill"racket has taken over from there.

Was in the vending business for years. We charged more for cigarettes because of the labor to fill machines with them. I remember when we raised the price to 22 cents a pack (with three pennies inserted in the side of the pack as change for a quarter) many people complained to me. They said if cigarettes ever got to a quarter a pack they would quit. I wonder how many did. Also remember people telling me that if gasoline ever got to the dollar a gallon I told them it would be (was about 35 cents at the time) they would quit driving. Ha!


David said (April 12, 2012):

As someone who has been in the field of helping people treat their chemical dependency and substance abuse problems for many years, you're very naive regarding nicotine. Not only is nicotine more addictive than heroin, in the United States, the mortality and comorbity rates from use are greater than all other drugs combined. To cite one person who has been able to quit smoking because of your methods in highly non-academic.


Al Thompson said (April 12, 2012):

I'm sure is different for some people, but I believe that nicotine or smoking is an addiction. I've smoked since I was 14 or 15 then I quit for about 15 years, then started again, and now I've stopped for another 7 years. Everytime I go into the store, I want to get a pack of Swisher Sweets or a pack of cigarettes. I don't buy them because I don't like the stink of the smoke on my clothes.

But I still want a smoke, I just don't do it any more. Quitting smoking was one of the more difficult things I've ever done. That last time I quit I did it "cold turkey." I have heard of people who can just quit and never go back, but I was not one of them. I still have to exercise some self control to not buy smokes


Anthony Migchels said (April 11, 2012):

I don't.

I don't smoke. That is, not since 3 weeks. But my God, have I worked hard to get this far. And it is only today that I for the first felt relaxed about it and did not think about the fags every minute of the day.

I know it's different for everybody. A friend of mine tells the same story as the author, but the withdrawal I've experienced has been quite severe. I'm still semi constipated, even though I've eaten healthful foods over the last few weeks.

But since it is so easy to quit, I maybe CAN take just the one now?


Sue said (April 11, 2012):

great article, once again. the author has hit the nail on the head with this one - all the aids that are around to help people 'give up' smoking is indeed a huge business.

i work with a lady who really wants to quit smoking but it's never the right time for her - family gathering coming up, stressful shift at work coming up, party coming up - always something to get in the way for her. she recently went to the doctors and got patches and lozenges with nicotine in them and when i saw her she had patches stuck to her arms, just finished a lozenge and was puffing on a ciggy!

i tell her all the time, her only barrier to stop smoking is her mind. it is truly all in the mind. i stopped smoking after reading the same book. i made the decision to start again though after putting on too much weight - i'm a woman - brainwashed to think thin is better - so i puff away to this day!


Henry Makow received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto in 1982. He welcomes your comments at