Anyone feel like quitting smoking?

The only downside of marijuana is the fact if you play sports or apply for a job that requires a drug test you are screwed.

If we may move away from cannabis back to nicotine for a moment, here's a good article written for non-scientists about some of the fascinating neurological effects of the drug, and its implications:

Researchers Light Up for Nicotine, the Wonder Drug

Marty Graham Email 06.20.07 | 2:00 AM

Smoking may be bad for you, but researchers and biotech companies are quietly developing pharmaceuticals that are decidedly good for brains, bowels, blood vessels and even immune systems -- and they're inspired by tobacco's deadly active ingredient: nicotine.

Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Not surprisingly, the first scientific work that identified these chemicals and how they affect the body came out of nicotine research -- much of it performed by tobacco companies.

Now drugs derived from nicotine and the research on nicotine receptors are in clinical trials for everything from helping to heal wounds, to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, anger management and anxiety.

"Nicotine is highly stigmatized -- and for good reason, because the delivery system is so deadly," says Don deBethizy, CEO of Targacept. "But the drug itself and the research generated by studying its effects on the brain both show great promise for helping us improve our physical and mental health."

DeBethizy worked for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for 15 years -- he was one of the first to publicly declare that tobacco is addictive -- before he spun Targacept off as a separate company. RJR retains a 4 percent share of the Winston Salem biotech, which has one mission: to develop drugs that target the so-called "nicotinic receptors" in the human central-nervous system.

Nicotine performs that function to an unhealthy extreme. "Nicotine itself is hugely potent and not specific enough," says Linda Gretton, Targacept's director of communications. "But the research we have allows us to take the best therapeutic qualities of nicotine and develop treatments that target receptors."

With funding from pharma giant AstraZeneca, Targacept is headed into Phase II clinical trials for a compound that could help overcome cognitive deficits in people who have Alzheimer's or schizophrenia. The company is also in Phase I trials for a compound that treats pain from molar extractions. The drugs both resemble nicotine in their molecular makeup, but are missing nicotine's addictive properties and toxicity.

Research into the medicinal qualities of nicotine was spurred in the 1990s by the availability of nicotine skin patches. For the first time clinical researchers had a form of nicotine that would deliver a reliable dose for study, and could be paired with placebos in blind trials.

Patients suffering from ulcerative colitis -- a bowel disease -- were subjects of some of the first studies, following observations of unusually low rates of smoking among those with the condition. A 1982 article in the British medical journal The Lancet was titled, "Non-smoking: a feature of ulcerative colitis." Researchers subsequently found that the nicotine in cigarette smoke reduced occurrences of ulcerative colitis, though the drug wasn't an ideal treatment.

"It was somewhat effective, but as a long-term treatment it has its drawbacks, systematic side effects and difficulty administering effective doses," says Dr. William Sandborn, of the Mayo Clinic. "Still, there was a time that we had patients using nicotine patches as off-label therapy."

More nicotine surprises followed. In 2000, Stanford researchers who set out to prove that nicotine damages blood vessels found just the opposite: it prompts the growth of new blood vessels. "It may be the reason smokers' cancers are so aggressive, says Dr. Scott Harkonen, CEO of drugmaker CoMentis. "But it also raises the question: where would you want to promote new blood-vessel growth?"

The answer, it turns out, was found in diabetes patients, who too often lose a lower extremity to amputation after a wound becomes gangrenous -- a result of poor blood circulation. Rates of amputations have steadily increased, Harkonen says, and nicotine could be a key to reversing that trend. Now CoMentis is in Phase II studies for "a gel that contains nicotine that's applied directly to the wound site," says Harkonen.

CoMentis is also working with a European company to study the effects of nicotine on the immune system, where it seems to quiet immune responses that go haywire with certain immune disorders.

None of the nicotine-based drugs and molecular siblings have yet come to market, and the stigma attached to nicotine may cause patients to recoil. But "the idea of nicotine-based drugs is alive and well," says the Mayo Clinic's Sandborn, a gastroenterologist who's watching from the wings. "There aren't any approved drugs yet, but I believe they're coming."

"There will be a variety of nicotine-based drugs coming out," agrees Ed Levin, a nicotine researcher at Duke University, who's done groundbreaking research on improving mental function in schizophrenia, Alzheimer's patients and people with ADHA. Levin believes the drugs are something to look forward to.

"There will be great progress when the nicotine sister drugs come to market," he says. "About half the cigarettes in this country are bought by people with psychiatric problems -- high percentages of people with depression and schizophrenia smoke, for example.

"When we can give people their medicine in a form that doesn't kill them, it will be real progress."

Fascinating. Thanks, Lemur.

I'll join.

Oh wait, I wasn't dumb enough to start smoking in the first place.

I can quit for months at a time. I had quit for 6 when Jillian was born. But damn me for a fool if I don't find myself having one at some event late in the evening after a couple beers or glasses of wine. I'll quit again, but honestly, I don't see it lasting for long. I'm what you'd call a 'functional' smoker, I only smoke after I get home from work in the evening. So I could keep drinking coffee, but like Louis, my evening dinner and any alcohol would just leave me wanting a smoke.

Anyway, how is your quitting going so far Prole? Anybody else take up the challenge? I'll check back in after a couple of *white-knuckle* days. :furious3:

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Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Anyway, how is your quitting going so far Prole? Anybody else take up the challenge? I'll check back in after a couple of *white-knuckle* days. :furious3:

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It lasted for about 30 minutes, Don.

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Originally Posted by Proletariat

It lasted for about 30 minutes, Don.

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Bad girl. <:angry:>

I'll be sure and give you and Itchy a good deal of hell in the chat frequently. Each cancer stick is 7 minutes off your life. Both my maternal grandparents were dead before my mom was 19 due to cancer from cigarettes, and mom was a smoker too for awhile. I still get a bit antsy thinking about that, and the fact that susceptibility to cancer runs in her side... Also one of the reasons I never smoked (cigarettes at least :grin:) in my life, except maybe one or two at parties every once in a blue moon in college.

Hop to it already! And seriously, best of luck everyone.

:balloon2:

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Originally Posted by Craterus

I'll join.

Oh wait, I wasn't dumb enough to start smoking in the first place.

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:no:

:yes:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Whacker

Bad girl. <:angry:>

I'll be sure and give you and Itchy a good deal of hell in the chat frequently. Each cancer stick is 7 minutes off your life. Both my maternal grandparents were dead before my mom was 19 due to cancer from cigarettes, and mom was a smoker too for awhile. I still get a bit antsy thinking about that, and the fact that susceptibility to cancer runs in her side... Also one of the reasons I never smoked (cigarettes at least :grin:) in my life, except maybe one or two at parties every once in a blue moon in college.

Hop to it already! And seriously, best of luck everyone.

:balloon2:

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They realize how bad it is for you, but it's not as easy as simply stopping. Your body is addicted to the chemicals.

By the way, I also had a grandfather who died of lung cancer from pipe smoke and an uncle who died from cigarette smoke. Nasty nasty things.

I wonder if smokers ever notice the large white labels with large black letters attached to every packet of smokes? :whip:

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Originally Posted by Sigurd Fafnesbane

I wonder if smokers ever notice the large white labels with large black letters attached to every packet of smokes? :whip:

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In a word: no.

At least not after seeing it the first time. In the mind of the smoker, it's just one more source of getting yelled at, on top of all the places he/she has been kicked out of, and on top of the onerous taxes imposed 'for the children'.

So an otherwise perfectly rational, mature adult has to resort to the denial tactics of a 2-year old (eyes squinted shut, fingers in ears, singing "Lalalala, I don' hear nuffin' or see nuffin' cuz I don' wanna", figuratively speaking).

A pack-a-day smoker has to perform this exercise 20 times a day. After years of practice, he can jump through that little hoop of humiliation in a nano-second.

So all the yelling and screaming and charges of weak willpower and dumbness and 'ewww-ness' amount to undifferentiated static in the mind of the smoker, something he just has to put up with, like hot temperatures in July, or the price of wheat in Pango-Pango.
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On the other hand... we observe that it took only 40 years to turn popular opinion and actual public behavior around 180 degrees in regards to cigarettes. Some smart guy ought to study just how that was accomplished so fully, and maybe use it as a paradigm to follow to (almost) eliminate other vices.
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brb. gotta feed the monkey ~:pimp:

I've been thinking about quitting for a while, but next weekend I'll be on vacation in Italy for a week so the effort wouldn't last. I'll try to quit when I come back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sigurd Fafnesbane

I wonder if smokers ever notice the large white labels with large black letters attached to every packet of smokes? :whip:

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It doesn't work, you simply stop paying attention to it eventually.

Yep, a good idea Prole. Atleast it will be untill i feel the need to go out and smoke my next cigarette of the evening.:embarassed: ~:smoking:

Hey Kagemusha, how expensive is tobacco in Finland? I've seen the prices in Sweden (they're high) and I've heard a lot of Norse get their tobacco there because it's actually cheaper :inquisitive:

Its about 3:50 -4:50 euros a box. We Finns get our cheap cigarettes mainly from Estonia where its lot cheaper.

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Originally Posted by Proletariat

For years I've felt like having a smoke was a perfect contrast to my first impression. Young gal, runs a mile each morning, watches what she eats, but smokes a pack a day (at work, on partying nights this can easily sky rocket to 2-3 packs a night).

For whatever reason I've decided this could possibly be a bad habit (there's rumors it can be fatal, believe it or not). If there's any other Orgah's who've been smoking for a decade or two, wanna start a thread to see who can go the longest without? I'm sure I'll be the first failure, but what the hey. Could be a fun competition.

Reply here (of course) if there's any interest. Maybe we could start a pool and the first to give in (me, undoubtedly) gives a donation to a charity of the first loser's choice. I say five bucks for everyone who fails, and the first Orgah out, has to fork out the sum to the charity of their choice. Of course, we're following the honor code here.

Anyone game?

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Smoked since 15, now 33. Was always atheletic for the most part, so it was balanced.

I quit today, forever. It's about time too. Wish me luck !

... I won't lose. It's over for me, I don't want to smoke anymore, ever.

I'll post back after 8 weeks (hope I remember to) in this thread for confirmation of my victory over my addiction. I am going to win.

Good luck, man. Remember we're all pulling for you! ~:cheers:

And seriously, good luck to *all* of you who are trying to quit. I've had a number of friends stop smoking the last several years, and subsequently I have a fairly good idea of just how difficult it is to do so.

THANKS Martok. I like your spirit.

More than 24 hours now.

I did compensate by having 3 glasses of white, and 3 of red wine at a wine tasting this evening. Keep in mind I met all my goals for the week so a few glasses of wine were well deserved, PLUS I added quit smoking. Just like that, without much thought.

When I felt the need to smoke, luckily someone started singing the Happy Birthday song ! Perfect excuse for conversation, I just got out that "need for nicotine" right out on the prettiest blond in that group. Letting her enjoy all that extra energy that came from not smoking today. I felt quite relieved afterwards (HAHAAHA! because I managed the approach!), I'm not usually the approach guy, but I think that's a good way. If you feel you need to smoke talk to a pretty and interesting woman instead. It's sure to get you thinking of far better moments in life than a cigarette. For men all you need to think about is what it does to your manhood. That may be enough, but if not; find yourself women who inspire you with their beauty, elegance & eloquence (and ofc inspire yourself with your lust for them), the combination should be enough. (I'm not suggesting a replacement addiction BTW, just for the record).

I want self improvement, I want a high degree of self mastery, smoking has no place in my life. I'm not going back.

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Originally Posted by Sinan

I want self improvement, I want a high degree of self mastery.

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That, right there is the recipe to success.

Man... you are in for some suprises. The pretty ones are goning to hunt you.
Other people will notice too.. people with the power to give you better jobs and better pay.