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by John R. Polito

[email protected]

Copyright John R. Polito 2009, 2012

Medicl !d"ice #i$climer - This book is designed to support, not replace, the relationshipthat exists between a reader and his/her physician. Do not rely upon any inormation in thisbook to replace indi!idual consultations with your doctor or other health care pro!ider.

%&'oo( #te) 12*31*0+ Re"i$ion #te) 0*01*12

This book is dedicated to all still capti!e to nicotine"s inluence.#ay mastery o the $%aw o &ddiction$ make reedom a keeper.

#ediction

This book would not exist i not or the insights o 'oel (pit)er, thesupport o *atricia *. &rnold, and the encouragement + inspirationo arriet #cryde 'ohnson, who let us on 'une , 001.

!c(nowledgment$

Freedom from NicotineThe Journey Home
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Table of Contents

Introduction2..................................................................................................................................7

Chpter 1) icotine !ddiction 101 ................................. 13That First Subtle "Aaah" ................................................................................................................13

Chemical Slavery's Onset................................................................................................................1

Tolerance.........................................................................................................................................!#icotine ...........................................................................................................................................!$

As Addictive as %eroin&...................................................................................................................!

Addiction #ot #e(s to Tobacco Industry........................................................................................3!

Freedom Starts (ith Admittin) Addiction........................................................................................3

Chpter 2) /he w o !ddiction .............................................*The +a( ,e-ined..............................................................................................................................*The +a( e-lected in Studies...........................................................................................................*!

/issed +essons ...............................................................................................................................*3

0ust one rule "#o #icotine Today2"...............................................................................................*$

Chpter 3) Quitting ou ...................................................*7uittin) vs. ecovery.......................................................................................................................*7

4uried Alive by #icotine "Aaah"s....................................................................................................*An In-ected +i-e................................................................................................................................*5

For)otten ela6ation.......................................................................................................................$

For)otten Calm ,urin) Crisis.........................................................................................................$1For)otten 4reathin) 8ndurance..................................................................................................$!

For)otten Sensitivities.....................................................................................................................$*

For)otten Senses..............................................................................................................................$$For)otten /ealtime.........................................................................................................................$

86tra 9or:(ee:s..............................................................................................................................$7

For)otten ;riorities< Forsa:en +i-e ................................................................................................$

Chpter -) 4$e Rtionli5tion$ .............................................. Inventin) =se ationali>ations........................................................................................................

Chemical to Friend..........................................................................................................................!

"I li:e it" "I love it"......................................................................................................................$"It relieves stress and an6iety".........................................................................................................

I'm ?ust a little bit addicted"............................................................................................................7"I do it -or -lavor and taste".............................................................................................................71

"/y co--ee (on't taste the same".....................................................................................................7!

"It hel@s me concentrate" ..............................................................................................................7!"I do it to relieve boredom".............................................................................................................73

"I do it -or @leasure"........................................................................................................................7*

"It's my choice and I choose to use"................................................................................................7$


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"It's ?ust a nasty little habit"............................................................................................................7

"I'll lose my -riends"........................................................................................................................77

"I'm still healthy".............................................................................................................................7"I can't sto@"....................................................................................................................................75

Chemical to ,emon.........................................................................................................................!0ust One< 0ust Once.........................................................................................................................3

Chpter 6) Pc(ing or the Journey 7ome ....................................*9hen to Start %ome #o( or +ater&..............................................................................................*

;ac: -or ecovery............................................................................................................................7,ocument our Core /otivations....................................................................................................7

;ac: ,urable /otivations...............................................................................................................5

;ac: ;atienceB One %our< Challen)e and ,ay at a Time..............................................................53;ac: a ;ositive Attitude...................................................................................................................5

The alue o- ,ocumentin) our 0ourney........................................................................................55

e-uelin)........................................................................................................................................1,estroy All emainin) #icotine ...................................................................................................15

Chpter 8) Common 75rd$ Pitll$ .......................................11!8arly Alcohol =se..........................................................................................................................11!Avoidin) 4lood Su)ar S(in) Sym@toms........................................................................................11$

our 4lood Ca--eine +evel 9ill ,ouble.........................................................................................11

9ei)ht Dain...................................................................................................................................1!Crutches ........................................................................................................................................1!7

Cessation ;roducts........................................................................................................................131

#e)ative Su@@ort...........................................................................................................................1*!4reathin) Second%and Smo:e.....................................................................................................1*$

86tremely ivid ,reams o- Smo:in)E=sin)...................................................................................1*7

4ad ,ays........................................................................................................................................1*7/enstrual Cycle Considerations...................................................................................................1*

;re)nancy......................................................................................................................................1$

Chpter ) /he Rodmp 7ome ............................................. 1

ecovery Timetable........................................................................................................................11

8ndin) #icotine =se .....................................................................................................................13

"9hat should I call mysel-&" .......................................................................................................1;hysical ead?ustment...................................................................................................................1

8motional ead?ustment................................................................................................................15

Subconscious ead?ustment...........................................................................................................15Conscious ead?ustment................................................................................................................17

Arrivin) %ome...............................................................................................................................171

Chpter +) /he :ir$t 2 7our$ ............................................... 173Summary o- 4asic ecovery Ti@s...................................................................................................17*

ecovery Sensations Dood< #ot bad.........................................................................................17
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8 Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home

Chpter 9) Phy$icl Reco"ery ............................................17#euronal esensiti>ation ..........................................................................................................175

Sym@toms.......................................................................................................................................1

;ossible /edication Ad?ustments..................................................................................................!!

;ossible =nderlyin) %idden Conditions.......................................................................................!!Celebratin) T(o 9ee:s o- %ealin)2..............................................................................................!$

Chpter 10) %motionl Reco"ery ........................................ !7,enial ..........................................................................................................................................!11

An)er..............................................................................................................................................!1!

4ar)ainin).....................................................................................................................................!1*,e@ression.....................................................................................................................................!1$

Acce@tance.....................................................................................................................................!17

Chpter 11) ;u'con$ciou$ Reco"ery ....................................!1The =nconscious /ind..................................................................................................................!1

Common =se Cues ........................................................................................................................!!7

Are crave e@isodes really less than 3 minutes&.............................................................................!31%o( o-ten do crave e@isodes occur&.............................................................................................!33

Cue 86tin)uishment.......................................................................................................................!3*

The 4i))er the 4etter.....................................................................................................................!*1e(ard ..........................................................................................................................................!*3

Crave Co@in) Techniues..............................................................................................................!*3

Seasonal< %oliday and In-reuent Cues ......................................................................................!*

Chpter 12) Con$ciou$ Reco"ery ..........................................!$

The Final Truth..............................................................................................................................!$,i)nity's ,enial.............................................................................................................................!$*Tearin) ,o(n the 9all..................................................................................................................!$

/ore +ies.......................................................................................................................................!$5

Conscious Fi6ation........................................................................................................................!$"0ust once< ?ust once2"...................................................................................................................!

The 0oy o- Smo:in)&......................................................................................................................!

Chpter 13) 7omecoming ..................................................!7!A Silent Celebration ......................................................................................................................!7!

+on)Term uiet and Calm ..........................................................................................................!7!

Dradually ,iminishin) Thou)hts and =r)es.................................................................................!73

Chpter 1-) Complcency Relp$e ......................................13Carin) -or Our ecovery...............................................................................................................!1ela@se...........................................................................................................................................!7

%arm eduction.............................................................................................................................!5!

Appendix: Sample Recovery Journal/Diary......................................!55


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:reedom rom icotine & /he Journey 7ome


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+ Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home

The anguish o attempting to break ree in ignorance and darkness can easily o!erwhelmreedom"s dreams. y diminishing or destroying needless ears, the long-term reedom thatseemed beyond our grasp is brought within reach.

This book"s objecti!e is to remo!e the mystery and as much anxiety as possible, so as toaord you the ability to notice and sa!or the ull la!or o coming home.

>nowledge is about to put you in the dri!er"s seat o your mind. ?elax and enjoy the ride

5 wish 5 could claim credit or most o what you are about to read. 5 can"t. The insights thatollow weren"t disco!ered during my own thirty-years o chemical capti!ity. :or do they lowrom my own ailed history, roughly a do)en serious attempts.

This book is not the result o the in!ention o some new method or product, or o ideas orconcepts born inside this mind.

5nstead, nearly all o the lessons shared were mined rom the disco!eries andaccomplishments o others. 5t"s the reason or more than 00 ootnotes.

Take your own poll o all the ex-smokers who ha!e been ree rom all nicotine and all stopsmoking products or at least one year. ow did they do it8 4ou"ll likely disco!er a giantelephant in the room, that someone has been lying to you.

Those selling stop smoking products want you to ear your natural instincts. They will ne!er

tell you that, depending on where you li!e, cold turkey continues to be the reco!ery methodresponsible or generating A0-B0C3o long-term successul ex-smokers.

These ex-smokers owe their success to ending use o all nicotine, not to de!ices that replaceit, designer drugs that imitate it, !accines that partially block its entry into the brain, or tomagic herbs, !itamins, hypnosis, needles, lasers that imitate needles, to motion sickness shotsthat make you too sick to smoke or to illy ob"s %ima ean utter.

There are hundreds o millions o worldwide cold turkey success stories. 6ducation andunderstanding hold promise to swell their numbers e!en greater.

ut it takes strong obser!ational skills to both notice the elephant in the room and thenaccurately separate truth rom iction.

rankly, this book would not exist without the insights and teachings o 'oel (pit)er oEhicago.

3 Doran E# et al,(moking status o &ustralian general practice patients and their attempts to quit,&ddicti!e eha!iors,#ay 00F, Golume H3


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(ince 000, 5"!e studied and shared 'oel"sclinical obser!ations. They are insights hebegan har!esting as early as 3BA, irst as a

!olunteer smoking pre!ention speaker or the&merican Eancer (ociety, and then as asmoking cessation counselor and paid stamember in 3BAA.

5 challenge you to locate any other person whohas de!oted their entire work-lie, nearly 0years, ull-time, to helping smokers break ree.#ore than HI0 six-session stop smokingclinics, FB0 single-session seminars, and an

additional do)en years working online withsmokers, 'oel truly is the enry &aron or abe?uth o smoking cessation.

Kn 'anuary 0, 000, out o the blue, a man 5"dne!er met e-mailed me oering to share themore than 10 stop smoking articles he"dwritten.

'oel"s articles quickly became the centerpiece

at both 7hyLuit.com


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7ho was 5 to think that 5 was somehow qualiied to create and co-manage an online stopsmoking support group8 This guy was the real deal

:icotine"s relationship to eating,stress, alcohol, !itamin E, anger,its inluence upon heart rate,depression, and sleep, how did 5miss all this8 7here had 5 been87hy hadn"t 5 seen smokingnicotine as true chemicaldependency, how replacementnicotine undermines resol!e, orgrasped the importance o cra!e

trigger extinguishment orcessation crutch a!oidance8

eore 'oel arri!ed, reedom"s co-ounder, 'oanne Diehl, and 5 hadgrown horribly rustrated.#embers were relapsing tosmoking let and right. ailure was e!erywhere. 5t was as i our support group was somehowostering deeat.

6ach new announcement o a member"s ailure and return to smoking brought lots o !irtual

member hugs, and encouragement or them to once again jump into the pool. 5t was as i thegroup"s aection and attention was an in!itation or others to relapse too, so that they couldreturn and enjoy their own relapse party.

#ore than once 'oanne had wanted to pull the plug and shut reedom down. ut now, herewas a guy whose entire lie had prepared him to deli!er on the orum"s name, reedom romTobacco.

7ithout hesitation, we begged 'oel to take charge o what was then little more than ananything-goes moti!ational pep-rally. &lthough he declined, he did agree to join us and assist

as a co-manager and become our director o education.

5 ondly named his collection o reinorcement letters $'oel"s %ibrary$ and placed them center-stage at both 7hyLuit and reedom. #ore than a decade later, that"s where they remain,reely a!ailable to all.

The collection has grown to more than 300 articles and now includes more than 300 ree!ideo counseling lessons. 'oel"s lie"s work continues to be the heart and soul o our online

0oel on Fo6 #e(s on /ay 1!< !* challen)in) @harmaindustry assertions that nicotine )um is not addictive.


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work.H

Today, the oten-repeated title o 'oel"s ree e-book,$:e!er Take &nother *u,$ has become relapse

pre!ention insurance or countless thousands.

& recent email rom ?oy, who is six weeks intoreco!ery, said it well. $The ":e!er Take &nother *u"sentence is one o the most powerul sentences 5 ha!ee!er heard in my lie. 5t can mo!e mountains. 5t wasmy only shining light in a mass o darkness andguided me back to a normal nicotine-ree lie. 5t iseecti!e because it is so simple and innocent. 5t hasthe power o innocence.$

5"!e searched long and hard or any work comparableto 'oel"s. 6xcept or indi!idual lessons here and there by particular counselors and authors,and &llen Earr"s excellent assault upon smoking rationali)ations, 5"!e been unable to locateany collection o work that comes close.

7hat 5 did ind were indi!idual studies by scores o dedicated researchers, studies that aid usin better understanding the ama)ing eects upon humans o this chemical called nicotine.

5 took my last pu o nicotine on #ay 3I, 3BBB at 30900 pm. (ince then, 5"!e been on a quest

or answers and at e!ery opportunity possible ha!e shared what 5"!e learned at 7hyLuit.com.

&ccording to ;.(. Moogle rankings, since 003 7hyLuit has been the N3 $nicotine cessation$resource. 7hyLuit has a!eraged 3.I million unique !isitors per year rom 00B to 03. 5t"smy hope that this book helps expand the reach o our work beyond the 5nternet.

(o here it is in a nutshell. &s health care uturist 'oe lower puts it, you"re about to indyoursel $in the mush,$ the same mush 5 encountered when 'oel arri!ed.

&ccording to lower, there are our phases to change induced learning9


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5 this book aids you in achie!ing conscious competence, please don"t allow it to collect duston some shel or become lost in your computer.

Eonsider sharing it with a riend or lo!ed one still trapped in acti!e dependency. eingdepri!ed o the insights needed to end our sel-destruction is a horrible reason to die.

5 just starting out, congratulations on your decision to reclaim your mind and lie 4ou areabout to li!e the time-tested adage that $knowledge is power 4es you can

reathe deep, hug hard, li!e long,

'ohn ?. *olito:icotine Eessation 6ducator



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Chpter 1

icotine !ddiction 101

/ht :ir$t ;u'tle !h

?emember how your body reacted to that irst-e!er inhaled pu, dip or chew o tobacco8&lthough some took to smoking like ants to sugar, what most recall is how utterly horrible ittasted.

4ou may ha!e elt di))y, nauseous or i like me, your ace cycled through six shades o green.#y mouth was illed with a terrible taste, my throat on ire, and my lungs in ull rebellion asscores o powerul toxins assaulted, inlamed and numbed all tissues touched.

*rior to that moment, you may ha!eheard that tobacco can be addicti!e.ut ater such an unpleasantintroduction you were con!inced thatit couldn"t possibly happen to you.

ow could it8 5 like most, youdidn"t like what just happened. owcould you possibly get hooked8

&s strange as this may sound, like ordislike ha!e little to do withchemical dependency.

eneath our body"s rebellion to thattoxic chemical onslaught, nicotinehad acti!ated our brain dopaminepathways, the mind"s sur!i!alinstincts teacher and moti!ator. Theprimary purpose o that brain

circuitry is to make acti!ating e!entsextremely diicult to orget or ignore.

ow do brain dopamine pathways teach and moti!ate action8 >nowing will aid inunderstanding both how we became hooked and why breaking ree appears !astly moredaunting than it is.

?emember how you elt as a child when irst praised by your parents or teachers or keepingyour coloring between the lines or or spelling your name correctly8 ?emember the $aaah$
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satisaction sensation8 ?emember that same eeling ater making and bonding with a newriend8 $&aah$

7e had just sampled the mind"s moti!ational reward or accomplishment and peer bonding. &nearned burst o dopamine was ollowed by an $aaah$ wanting satisaction sensation.

5t caught our attention, alerted us to what was important, and created a memory o the e!entthat would help establish uture priorities.

ursts o dopamine were also elt when we anticipated accomplishment, peer bonding or otherspecies sur!i!al acti!ities. 7e were now being moti!ated and working to satisy dopaminepathway wanting, the $aaah$ relie sensation elt when anticipating or experiencing desire"ssatisaction.

Kur sense o wanting being satisied is generated by therelease o dopamine within multiple brain regions, primarilyin our mid brain, inside cell structures known as the !entraltegmental area


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and extend orward into the conscious, rational, thinking portion o the brain.

*retend or a moment that you"re extremely thirsty. ?eally thirsty Ean you sense $wanting$beginning to build8 :ow, imagine drinking a nice, cool glass o rereshing water. Did you

notice the $wanting$ subside, at least a little8

Eompliance with wanting generates a noticeable $aaah$ relie sensation. The greater ourwanting, the more intense our $aaah.$

Kur dopamine pathways are the source o sur!i!al instinct anticipation, moti!ation andreinorcement. ard-wired instincts include eating ood, drinking liquids, accomplishment,companionship, group acceptance, reproduction and child rearing.A

Kur brain dopamine pathways cause our compliance with wanting to be recorded in high

deinition memory, in our orehead just abo!e our eyes,


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anxieties which urther inlame wanting.

Kbedience releases a sudden phasic burst o dopamine. 7anting ends once our need,

conditioning or desire is satisied and our tonic dopamine le!el returns to normal. The releasealso creates a !i!id new high deinition memory o how wanting was satisied.

(o, how does all o this relate to nicotine addiction8

Chemicl ;l"ery=$ >n$et

7hat would happen i, by chance, an external chemical so closely resembled the properties othe neuro-chemical responsible or acti!ating brain dopamine pathways


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6ach new supply o nicotine would be ollowed by a phasic dopamine release. The lower ourtonic dopamine le!el, the more noticeable our $aaah$ wanting relie sensation, the more !i!idour newest use reinorcement memory.

(oon, an increasing number o high deinition nicotine use memories would themsel!es beginsuggesting that we use early and oten, so as to a!oid sensing the onset o wanting.

&s though bars to a prison cell, our thinking, planning and day became surrounded by hundredsand then thousands o durable use memories, each orcing us to !i!idly recall how wanting getssatisied.

& had de!eloped a physical need that we couldn"t then possibly understand. 7e oundoursel!es in!enting reasons to explain and justiy our continued use. Those reasons and alse

use rationali)ations would act as additional bars in our prison cell.

Eollecti!ely, our wanting satisaction memories quickly became more durable and !i!id thanany negati!e memory o any toxic unpleasantness elt during our irst ew uses o tobacco.

5t wasn"t long beore a growing number o high deinition use memories buried all remainingmemory o what lie was like without nicotine.

Try recalling the calm, quiet and relaxed mind you enjoyed beore getting hooked. Try hard toremember going entire days and weeks without once wanting to use nicotine. 4ou can"t do it,

can you Don"t eel alone. :one o us can. 5t"s a drug addiction hallmark.

*risoners o hijacked pay-attention circuitry, wanting"s satisaction became our N3 priority. B

7e quickly orgot that it was e!er possible to unction without nicotine.

Kur priorities teacher had been taken hostage. 5 we resistedand delayed using, we were disciplined with anxieties orailure to apply the lessons taught.

The brain"s control room or coordinating and routingdopamine pathway unctions appears to be the right insula.5t"s an o!al, prune-si)ed brain structure abo!e and betweenour ear and eye.

The insula recei!es a wide range o input rom our senses,emotions, dopamine pathways and rom the prerontal cortex,

B #cMowan, >,&ddiction9 *ay &ttention, *sychology Today #aga)ine, :o!/Dec 00, &rticle 5D9 HIA3J also see,?osack, ',Golkow #ay a!e ;nco!ered &nswer to &ddiction ?iddle,*sychiatric :ews 'une , 00, Golume HB:umber 33, *age H.
http://www.whyquit.com/http://www.whyquit.com/http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3571.htmlhttp://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3571.htmlhttp://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/11/32http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/11/32http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/11/32http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-3571.htmlhttp://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/11/32http://www.whyquit.com/


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home to pre!iously recorded $pay attention$ memories.

& 00A study ound that smokers who sustained brain damage to the right insula actually lost

the urge to smoke,30

suggesting that it also routes or coordinates use urges, cra!es and anxieties.

Thank goodness it doesn"t take traumatic brain injury or a stroke to make us stop cra!ingnicotine. Thank goodness that reco!ery isn"t nearly as diicult as our brain wanting disordersuggests.

7hether heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, alcoholism or nicotine, drug addiction is aboutthe brain"s dopamine pathways being taken hostage by an external chemical.

7e nicotine smokers didn"t suck tissue destroying tars that included ammonia, ormaldehyde,

arsenic, butane, hydrogen cyanide, lead, mercury, !inyl chloride, methane or !ast quantities ocarbon monoxide into our bodies because we wanted to watch each pu destroy a bit more oour capacity to recei!e and circulate lie-gi!ing oxygen. 7e did so to replenish constantlyalling nicotine reser!es.

:icotine is a small molecule. This allows it to cross through our protecti!e blood-brain ilter.Knce through, it docks with acetylcholine receptors and stimulates dopamine low.

(moked nicotine contains at least one other as yet unidentiied chemical that somehowdiminishes dopamine cleanup en)ymes #&K & and #&K . Diminished #&K means delayin normal dopamine clean-up ollowing a phasic release. 5t means that smoked nicotine"s

wanting relie sensation is allowed to linger longer than normal.

Think about how short-li!ed the $aaah$ sensation is ollowing a single potato chip or a sip owater when thirsty. %onger wanting relie is thought to make smoked nicotine possibly themost perectly designed orm o addiction.

5t may also help explain why oral tobacco users generally ha!e higher blood nicotineconcentrations than smokers. (mokeless tobacco does not inhibit #&K or normal dopamineclean-up. 5t may be that users o all non-smoked orms o nicotine require higher le!els onicotine in order to keep their wanting at bay.

7hether smoked or oral, an endless cycle o wanting and its brie absence ollowing use let ustotally yet alsely con!inced that nicotine was essential to sur!i!al.

Kur nicotine eeding cycle let many o us belie!ing that use deined who we were, thatnicotine ga!e us our edge, helped us cope, and that lie without it would be horrible or e!en

30 :aq!i, :, et al, Damage to 5nsula Disrupts &ddiction to Eigarette (moking,(cience, 'anuary 00A, Gol. H3I


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meaningless.

*unished with wanting that was satisied by use, we quickly grew to belie!e that we could notunction comortably without it.

7hy can"t we star!e oursel!es to death8 :ot only is wanting or ood satisied with dopamine$aaah$ relie sensations when we anticipate eating or actually do so, we are punished withanxieties and cra!ings when we wait too long between meals.

&s or nicotine le!els, like ood, what goes up must come down. &s our body slowlymetaboli)ed and rid itsel o nicotine, we gradually experienced increasing mood deteriorationand escalating distress, punctuated by anxiety, anger and depression.

5n act, it"s work li!ing lie as a nicotine addict. 7e endured greater extremes in daily mood

swings than non-users, greater problematic anger,33

and the greater our dependency the moreunstable our moods.3

Kur hijacked priorities teacher was ooled and started teaching a alse lesson, that bringing anew supply o nicotine into the bloodstream was e!ery bit as important as eating.

6xtensi!e dopamine circuitry o!erlap,3H nicotine cra!ings became as real as ood cra!ings.:icotine $aaah$ wanting relie sensations became as important as ood $aaah$s. :earlyindistinguishable, we experienced the same anxiety beatings, and similar dopamine wantingrelie sensations upon surrender.

ut there is one massi!e dierence between dependency upon ood and dependency uponnicotine. 7ithout ood we star!e, without nicotine we thri!e

;nortunately, our hostage dopamine circuitry is incapable o distinguishing act rom iction.y design, it has buried and suppressed the beauty o ne!er wanting or needing that existedprior to nicotine"s arri!al.

7ould coming home to your calm and quiet yet orgotten mind be a good thing or bad8 5good, what sense does it make to ear it8

The problem is that attempts to end nicotine use are oten met with a rising tide o anxieties.

33 Eougle '?, Delineating a ?elationship etween *roblematic &nger and Eigarette (moking9 & *opulation-ased (tudy,:icotine and Tobacco ?esearch, #ay 3H, 03

3 *arrott &E, Eigarette-deri!ed nicotine is not a medicine, The 7orld 'ournal o iological *sychiatry, &pril 00H,Golume , et al, ?eward circuitry dopaminergic acti!ation regulates ood and drug cra!ing beha!ior,Eurrent*harmaceutical Design, 033J Golume 3Aelley &6, et al,:eural systems recruited bydrug- and ood-related cues9 studies o gene acti!ation in corticolimbic regions,*hysiology + eha!ior. 00I(eptember, Golume 3IJ1F


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(oon, our thousands o old nicotine use $aaah$ relie memories begin looking like lie jackets.

7hile we only needed to remain nicotine-ree and stay aloat or a maximum o three days in

order to na!igate the roughest seas and mo!e beyond peak withdrawal, hungry or calm, mosto us took the hook and bit on our $aaah$ memory bait.

7e obeyed the alse lessons generated by our chemically hijacked teacher. 5n doing so, weabandoned the only path home in exchange or a ew minutes o relie.

7hen trying to stop using, it isn"t unusual to ind our mind"s addiction chatter insanely trying tocon!ince us that things will be ine i we just ha!e a little more nicotine now, that we can stopusing while using more.

5 hate to think about how many times 5 told mysel during a prior attempt that using just oncemore was my reward or ha!ing briely succeeded in going without.

Kb!iously, this quick ix isn"t a solution at all. 5t shows a total lack o understanding as to thepurpose and unction o brain dopamine pathways, to make circuitry acti!ating acti!ities nearlyimpossible, in the short term, to orget or ignore.

ut bondage is more than a rising tide o anxieties being ostered by a diminishing tonicdopamine le!el, in response to constantly declining blood-serum nicotine reser!es. &nd it"smore than thousands o old use memories screaming the wrong way out.

/olernce

&s i nicotine taking our dopamine pathways capti!e wasn"t enough, imagine the brainphysically needing and requiring more nicotine o!er time.

Deinitions o tolerance include9

3. Decreased responsi!eness to a stimulus, especially o!er a period o continued exposure. Diminution in the response to a drug ater prolonged use, orH. *hysiological resistance to a poison.3

The brain attempts to ight back against its toxic intruder. &s i somehow knowing that toomuch unearned dopamine is lowing, it attempts to diminish nicotine"s inluence by morewidely disbursing it.

5t does so by growing or acti!ating millions o extra nicotinic-type acetylcholine receptors in as

3 tolerance.


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many as ele!en dierent brain regions.3I

&lthough you"ll generally see the a!erage nicotine intake per cigarette stated as being about3mg


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relapse to a condition my brain had known since ormation and creation o my !ery irstacetylcholine receptor. That irst receptor almost immediately became occupied by nicotinethat was smoked by mom.

5t was an e!ent that occurred three to our weeks ollowing conception.3B The problem is thatreceptors are being acti!ated beore ormation o the brain cell to which the receptor wille!entually be attached.

&s Duke ;ni!ersity *roessor (lotkin puts it, $nicotine alters the de!elopmental trajectory oacetylcholine systems in the immature brain, with !ulnerability extending rom etal stagesthrough adolescence.$0

5n addition to genetics and prenatal nicotine exposure, the younger we were when we started

using, the more proound the altered de!elopment trajectory experienced by our stillde!eloping brain..

?esearch suggests that nicotine inlicted damage to dopamine and serotonin pathways issigniicantly greater in males than emales, but that this emale ad!antage disappears i theemale brain is exposed to both prenatal and adolescent nicotine.3

The dependent mind is capable o using a low le!el o nicotine tolerance as justiication orcontinued chemical ser!itude.

5t"s easy or those who use less oten to rationali)e that they are somehow superior or better

able to control their addiction than hea!y users. 5n reality, they"re hooked solid too. Theirsla!ery is just as permanent and just as real.

The smoker smoking i!e times a day may also ace health risks as great or greater than hea!iersmokers. This too may be due to genetic actors, to diering toxin and cancer causingchemical le!els ound in dierent brands o tobacco, or to how intensely each cigarette wassmoked.

5t may also be due in part to en!ironmental actors that subject us to other chemical agents suchas radon, or to employment or hobby chemical exposures, or due to the quality o the water we

drink and the air we breathe.

3B (lotkin T&,5 nicotine is a de!elopmental neurotoxicant in animal studies, dare we recommend nicotine replacementtherapy in pregnant women and adolescents8:eurotoxicology and Teratology, 'anuary 001, Golume H0, 5ssue 3, *ages3-3B.

0 (lotkin T&, et al,&dolescent nicotine treatment changes the response o acetylcholine systems to subsequent nicotineadministration in adulthood,rain ?esearch ulletin, #ay 3I, 001, Golume AF


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K!er the years 5"!e met many smokers, mysel included, who experienced a signiicant increasein the number o cigarettes smoked and higher nicotine tolerance ollowing relapse ater aailed attempt.

7hy8 7e don"t know. (moking more cigarettes harder, it was almost like binge eating aterdieting, as i my brain was trying to make up or missed nicotine eedings. ut seeing increasesin the le!el o smoking ollowing relapse is becoming less common.

%ike a hurricane requiring warm water to strengthen, the uel or a nicotine tolerance increaseis additional time and opportunities to use.

The smoke-ree indoor-air mo!ement is gradually sweeping the globe. (moking is alsoincreasingly being prohibited in and around parks, playgrounds, beaches, hospitals, schools andcollege campuses, and in the presence o children.

(mokers ace ewer replenishment opportunities as non-smokers become increasing lesstolerant o smoking in their presence, homes or !ehicles.

5 suspect that the smoker"s nicotine tolerance le!el will increasingly be associated with trying toobtain more nicotine by smoking ewer cigarettes harder.

ut the opposite is oten seen in smokers transerring their dependency to oral tobacco or :?Tproducts, where around-the-clock use becomes possible.

$5 started out with about F pieces a day and now chew about 3I pieces o mg per day.*robably more nicotine than when 5 smoked,$ asserts a 1 year-old, three-year emale gumuser.

$There is one in my mouth hours a day, A days a week ... yes or real,$ claims a H year-old,three-year male gum user who chews 0-I0 pieces a day and thinks he may $chew more thananyone in the world.$

?egardless o method o deli!ery or le!el o nicotine tolerance, the millions o extraacetylcholine receptors grown by the addicted brain desensiti)ed it to its own natural sense oneuro-chemical normal.

7e became wired to unction with a precise amount o nicotine in our blood stream. :ot toomuch, not too little, we worked to maintain and remain within our )one o nicotine-normal.&ny attempt to stop using brought potential or a brie emotional train wreck, as we oundoursel!es not only desensiti)ed to nicotine but briely to lie as well.

$Dependent human smokers ha!e decreased dopamine acti!ity during withdrawal$ and

*olito '?, %ong-Term :icorette Mum ;sers %osing air and Teeth,7hyLuit.com, December 3, 001.
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would actually begin sali!ating when he rang the bell, e!en as he started to delay ood"s arri!allonger and longer.

4our unique patterns o nicotine use ha!e conditioned your subconscious too. 6ncountering a

nicotine eeding cue can trigger a response ranging rom a barely notice urge to a ull blownanxiety episode, depending upon your tonic dopamine le!el.

Teased by thousands o old wanting satisaction memories, i allowed the anxiety episode canbecome emotionally inlamed.

(el-induced anxieties and ears can build, e!entually triggering the body"s ight or light panicresponse. 5t happens when stress associated with a need, conditioning or desire escalates to thepoint o registering within the deep inner primiti!e mind as a threatening e!ent.

During panic, normal cessation time distortion is made worse, as time seemingly stands still. 5tcan make a less than three minute cra!e episode eel like three hours, and entirelyunmanageable.

Eontrary to what is then elt, those three minutes are extremely short li!ed in comparison toacti!e dependency"s ne!er ending cycle o want, urge, use and satisy.

:icotine addiction is about li!ing alse priorities, needless conditioning, dishonest usejustiications, and denial o all o the abo!e. 5t"s about use o a tiny molecule called nicotinebecoming the most requent lesson taught by a highjacked sur!i!al instincts teacher.

Think about it. 7hile we might orget to take our !itamin or medicine, procrastinate regardingwork, skip meals, interrupt quality time with amily or riends, how oten would we ail torespond to the bell or that next mandatory nicotine eeding8

icotine

5was surprised to learn that all nicotine comes rom the tobacco plant, including nicotine innicotine replacement products such as the patch, gum and lo)enge.

&lthough creation o synthetic nicotine is possible, imagine the regulatory hoops that the

industry would need to jump through in order to be allowed to market synthetic nicotine orhuman consumption.

5nstead, the pharmaceutical industry competes with the tobacco industry in purchasing tobaccorom tobacco armers and extracting nicotine rom it.

:icotine is a colorless, odorless, liquid organic-based alkaloid in the same amily as cocaine,morphine, quinine and strychnine. 5t slowly yellows when exposed to air, is bitter tasting and


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gi!es o a slight ishy odor when warmed.

7hen holding dry tobacco in your hand, the weight o

nicotine within it will !ary depending upon the type otobacco. 7hile nicotine"s weight a!erages about HC incigarettesI and moist snu, it comprises 3.FC o atobacco plug"s weight and about 3C o the weight ochewing tobacco.F

Kne o the most toxic o all poisons, Anicotine is a etalteratogen that damages the de!eloping brain.1 & naturalinsecticide ormed in the roots o the tobacco plant, ithelps protect the plant"s roots, stalk and lea!es rom being

eaten by insects and animals.

:icotine was originally sold as an alkaloid insecticide in&merica under the brand name lack %ea 0, a mixturethat was 0C nicotine sulate.B ;se o similar nicotineproducts continues to be touted in organic gardening as ameans or killing insects.

:eonicotinoids are synthetic orms o the naturalinsecticide nicotine, and likely the most widely usedinsecticides worldwide.

(old under brand names such as 5midacloprid andThiamethoxam


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ow deadly is nicotine8 5t"s nearly twice as deadly as black widow spider !enom


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dose is 30 grams or 30,000 milligrams, compared to H0 milligrams or nicotine.

*icture a substance more toxic than rattlesnake or black widow !enom being ed to your brain

day ater day ater day. 5s it any wonder that a 00 study using brain #?5 imaging ound that$smokers had smaller gray matter !olumes and lower gray matter densities thannonsmokers8$0

Eontrary to indings rom studies examining the short-term , et al, 6ects o smoking and smoking abstinence on cognition in adolescent tobacco smokers,iological

*sychiatry, 'anuary 3, 00I, Golume IA


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cocaine.I

Eanada"s cigarette pack addition warninglabel reads, $7&?:5:M - E5M&?6TT6(

&?6 5M%4 &DD5ET5G6 - (tudies ha!eshown that tobacco can be harder to quitthan heroin or cocaine.$

ut how on earth can nicotine possibly beas addicti!e as heroin8 5t"s a legal product,sold in the presence o children, nearcandies, sodas, pastries and chips at theneighborhood con!enience store, drug store,supermarket and gas station.

eroin addicts describe their dopaminepathway wanting satisaction sensation asbeing ollowed by a warm and relaxingnumbness. The methamphetamine or speedaddict"s wanting satisaction is enguled byracing energy, excitement and hyper ocus.(atisaction o the alcoholic"s wanting isollowed by the gradual depression o theircentral ner!ous system. &nd euphoria


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#ental Disorders, thedition


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5"!e stood beore thousands o inmates whose chemical addictions to illegal drugs landed thembehind bars. During each program 5 couldn"t help but comment on the irony that those caughtusing illegal drugs ended up in prison, while we nicotine addicts openly and legally purchase

our drug at neighborhood stores.

The irony is that, according to the EDE, during 3BB1 tobacco killed I times more &mericansthan all illegal drugs combined


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&gain, the primary dierence between the illegal drug addict and us is that our chemical islegal and our dopamine high accompanied by alertness.

4es, there are social smokers called $chippers.$ &nd yes, their genetics may allow them to useyet always retain the ability and autonomy to simply turn and walk away.B ut, 5"m clearly notone o them. &nd odds are, neither are you, as you wouldn"t be reading a book about how toarrest your dependency.

5 oten think about the alcoholic"s plight, in ha!ing to watch B0C o drinkers do something the30C who are alcoholics cannot themsel!es do, control their alcohol intake.

The dependency igures or nicotine are almost the exact opposite o alcohol"s. ?oughly B0Co daily adult smokers are chemically dependent under D(#-555 I0 standards, while 1AC o

students smoking at least 3 cigarette daily are already dependent under D(#-5G standards.

I3

!ddiction ot ew$ to /o'cco


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brands include &lpine, asic, enson + edges, ristol, Eambridge, Ehesterield,Eommander, Da!e"s, 6nglish K!als, %+#, %ark, #erit, *arliament, *layers, (aratoga andGirginia (lims.

Today, *hilip #orris" website openly proclaims, $*# ;(& agrees with the o!erwhelmingmedical and scientiic consensus that cigarette smoking is addicti!e$ and $smokeless tobaccoproducts are addicti!e.$IA

?emember that ateul $what the heck$ moment when you surrendered and ga!e tobacco thatirst serious try8 7hat you probably don"t recall are the thousands o in!itations to surrenderand experiment that tobacco industry marketing had by then burned into your subconscious.

&s shown by the ollowing quotes rom once secret *hilip #orris corporate documents, it wasully aware that it was in the drug addiction business while pounding your brain with those

in!itations.

3BA - $The cigarette should not be construed as a product but a package. The product isnicotine. Think o a pu o smoke as the !ehicle or nicotine. The cigarette is but one omany package layers. There is the carton, which contains the pack, which contains thecigarette, which contains the smoke. The smoke is the inal package. The smokers muststrip o all these package layers to get to that which he seeks.$I1

#ay 3BAI - $... decline in#arlboro"s growth rate is due

to ... slower growth in thenumber o 3I-3B year-olds ...changing brand preerencesamong younger smokers.$

$#ost o these studies ha!ebeen restricted to people age 31and o!er, but my own data,which includes youngerteenagers, shows e!en higher#arlboro market penetrationamong 3I-3A year-olds.$

$The teenage years are also important because those are the years during which mostsmokers begin to smoke, the years in which initial brand selections are made, and theperiod in the lie-cycle in which conormity to peer-group norms is greatest.IB

IA *hilip #orris ;(&, *roducts, 'une 001, http9//www.philipmorrisusa.comI1 *hilip #orris ?esearch Eenter, 7illiam %. Dunn, 'r.,Eonidential9 #oti!es and 5ncenti!es in Eigarette (moking,3BA,

ates :umber9 0AHBIBJ http9//legacy.library.ucs.edu/tid/txyAe00.IB *hilip #orris ;.(.&. memo9 The Decline in the ?ate o Mrowth o #arlboro ?ed, #ay 3, 3BAI, ates :umber9
http://www.whyquit.com/http://www.whyquit.com/http://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/cms/Home/default.aspxhttp://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txy74e00/pdfhttp://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txy74e00/pdfhttp://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txy74e00/pdfhttp://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txy74e00http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/srs84a00/pdfhttp://www.philipmorrisusa.com/en/cms/Home/default.aspxhttp://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txy74e00/pdfhttp://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/txy74e00http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/srs84a00/pdfhttp://www.whyquit.com/


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3- Freedom from Nicotine - The Journey Home

:o!ember 3BAA - $5 was ama)ed at the trend that the OEouncil or Tobacco ?esearchPwork is taking. or openers, Dr. Donald . ord, a new sta member, makes the

ollowing quotes9 "Kpiates and nicotine may be similar in action" ... "There is arelationship between nicotine and the opiates." ... 5t is my strong eeling that with theprogress that has been claimed, we are in the process o digging our own gra!e.$F0

ased in 7inston-(alem, :orth Earolina, ?.'. ?eynolds" Tobacco Eompany


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$e does not start smoking to obtain undeined physiological gratiications or relies,and certainly he does not start to smoke to satisy a non-existent cra!ing or nicotine.?ather, he appears to start to smoke or purely psychological reasons -- to emulate a!alued image, to conorm, to experiment, to dey, to be daring, to ha!e something to do

with his hands, and the like.$

$Knly ater experiencingsmoking or some period otime do the physiological$satisactions$ and habituationbecome apparent and needed.5ndeed, the irst smokingexperiences are otenunpleasant until a tolerance

or nicotine has beende!eloped.$

$This lea!es us, then, in theposition o attempting todesign and promote the sameproduct to two dierent typeso markets with two dierentsets o moti!ations, needs andexpectations.$

$Eritics o tobacco productsincreasingly allege that smoking is dangerous to the health o the smoker. *art o thisalleged danger is claimed to arise rom ingestion o nicotine and part is claimed to ariserom smoke components or smoke $tar.$

$5, as proposed abo!e, nicotine is the sine qua non o smoking, and i we meekly acceptthe allegations o our critics and mo!e toward reduction or elimination o nicotine romour products, then we shall e!entually liquidate our business.$

$5 we intend to remain in business and our business is the manuacture and sale odosage orms o nicotine, then at some point we must make a stand.$ $5 our business isundamentally that o supplying nicotine in useul dosage orm, why is it reallynecessary that allegedly harmul "tar" accompany that nicotine8$

$There should be some simpler, $cleaner$, more eicient and direct way to pro!ide thedesired nicotine dosage than the present system in!ol!ing combustion o tobacco ore!en chewing o tobacco ...$


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$5t should be possible to obtain pure nicotine by synthesis or rom high-nicotine tobacco.5t should then be possible, using modiications o techniques de!eloped by thepharmaceutical and other industries, to deli!er that nicotine to the user in eicient,

eecti!e, attracti!e dosage orm, accompanied by no "tar", gas phase, or other allegedlyharmul substances.$

$The dosage orm could incorporate !arious la!orants, enhancers, and like desirableadditi!es, and would be designed to deli!er the minimum eecti!e amount o nicotine atthe desired release-rate to supply the "satisaction" desired by the user.$

&s shown, ?'?"s 3BA memo accurately predicts both the arri!al o nicotine replacementproducts


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to nicotine intake.$FF

:o!ember H, 3BAA9 $5 don"t know o any smoker who at some point hasn"t wished he didn"tsmoke. 5 we could oer an acceptable alternati!e or pro!iding nicotine, 5 am 300 percent sure

we would ha!e a gigantic brand.$FA

ebruary 3H, 3B109 $Moal - Determine the minimum le!el o nicotine that will allow continuedsmoking. 7e hypothesi)e satisaction cannot be compensated or by psychological satisaction.&t this point smokers will quit, or return to higher tar + nicotine brands.$F1

%ast but not least is ritish &merican Tobacco


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:reedom ;trt$ with !dmitting !ddiction

5t was not easy looking in the mirror and at last seeing a true drug addict looking back. 5 elt

like 5 was surrendering, that ater all those ailed attempts 5"d lost. 5 elt like a total andcomplete ailure. ut as horrible as that moment elt, doing so was the most liberating e!ent inmy lie.

5t was then and there 5 no longer needed the long list o lies 5"d in!ented to try to explain mycapti!ity, my need or that next ix.

4es, there were countless times during my H decades o bondage where 5"d told mysel that 5was hooked. ut not until early 3BBB, ater one last ailed attempt, did it hit me. %ikealcoholism, my addiction was or real. 5t was then that 5 awoke to reali)e that 5 was no dierent

rom the meth or heroin addict

Dr. #.&.. ?ussell, a psychiatrist and addiction researcher at %ondon"s 5nstitute o *sychiatryhad me pegged in 3BA9

$There is little doubt that i it were not or nicotine in tobacco smoke, people would belittle more inclined to smoke than they are to blow bubbles or to light sparklers.$

$Eigarette-smoking is probably the most addicti!e and dependence-producing orm oobject-speciic sel-administered gratiication known to man.$AH

K!er the years, millions o nicotine addicts ha!e tried pro!ing Dr. ?ussell wrong. 5n 'anuary00H, a #iami based company, the Gector Mroup %td., began marketing a nicotine-reecigarette called Luest in se!en northeastern ;.(. states.

& no!elty item, thousands o smokers rushed out to purchase their irst pack o nicotine-reesmokes. ut locating any smoker who returned to purchase a second pack pro!ed nearlyimpossible.

7e would no more smoke nicotine-ree cigarettes than we"d smoke dried lea!es rom thebackyard. ello #y name is 'ohn and 5"m a comortably reco!ered nicotine addict.

5t is not normal or humans to light things they place between their lips on ire and thenintentionally suck the ire"s smoke deep into their lungs. :or is it normal to chew or suck ahighly toxic non-edible plant, hour ater hour, day ater day, year ater year.

7e rationali)ed irrational beha!ior because o the neuro-chemical relie rom wanting itgenerated. 7hat we didn"t reali)e that each use reinorced uture wanting by creation o yet

AH?ussell, #&,The (moking abit and 5ts Elassiication,The *ractitioner, 'une 3BA Golume 3


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another high deinition use memory.

Euddling up to the warm, co)y rationali)ation that, at worst, all we ha!e is some $nasty littlehabit$ ser!es the tobacco industry well. 7hile habits can be manipulated, modiied, toyed

with and controlled, nicotine addiction is an all or nothing proposition.

The industry knows that so long as its adult ree-choice marketing continues to brainwashnicotine addicts into belie!ing that they"re in ull control, that they are likely to continue tohand the industry their money until the day they die.

?egardless o the deli!ery de!ice or method used to introduce nicotine into the bloodstream,ully accepting that nicotine dependency has permanently altered our brain not only simpliiesthe rules o reco!ery, it pro!ides the key to staying ree.

%et"s re!iew the only rule that we each need ollow in order to spend the balance o lie on theree side o dependency"s bars. 5t"s called the $%aw o &ddiction.$

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-0 :reedom rom icotine & /he Journey 7ome

Chpter 2

/he w o !ddiction

"Administration of a drug to an addict will cause re-establisment

of cemical dependence upon te addictive substance!"

/he w #eined

&ccording to the 7orld ealth Krgani)ation, $5n the 0th century, the tobacco epidemickilled 300 million people worldwide. During the 3stcentury, it could kill one billion.$A

4ear ater year, at least A0C o sur!eyed smokers say they want to stop,AIand each year0C make an attempt o at least one day.AF

There is no lack o desire or eort. 7hat"s lacking is know-how. >ey to breaking andstaying ree is understanding the $%aw o &ddiction.$

7hether users know it by name or simply understand the basic premise, ailure to sel-disco!er or to be taught this law is a horrible reason to die. The $%aw o &ddiction$ is notman-made law. 5t"s as undamental as the law o gra!ity and reusal to abide by it willresult in injury or death.

The %aw is rather simple. 5t states, $&dministration o a drug to an addict will cause re-establishment o chemical dependence upon the addicti!e substance.$

#astering it requires acceptance o three undamental principles9


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become occupied by nicotine.AA

During relapse, while the smoker"s conscious mind may ind itsel struggling with tobaccotoxin tissue burning sensations and carbon monoxide induced di))iness, well-engineereddopamine pay-attention pathways are recording the e!ent and will make the resulting

dopamine $aaah$ wanting relie sensation nearly impossible, in the short-term, to orget.

5n act, most actually walk away rom their relapse experience thinking that they ha!egotten away with cheating and using just once. ut it won"t be long beore their awakeneddependency is wanting and begging or more.

?eco!ery isn"t about battling an entire pack, pouch, tin or box. 5t"s about that irst bolus onicotine striking the brain, a hit that will end our journey, cost us liberty, and land us backbehind bars.

;nortunately, con!entional reco!ery wisdom in!ites relapse with statements such as$Don"t let a little slip put you back to smoking.$ &s 'oel says, it"s like telling the alcoholic,$Don"t let a sip put you back to drinking$ or the heroin addict, $Don"t let shooting-up putyou back to using.$

6xperts are ond o stating that $on a!erage, it takes between H-I serious reco!ery attemptsbeore breaking ree o tobacco dependence,$ and that $e!ery time you make an eortyou"re smarter and you can use that inormation to increase the likelihood that yoursubsequent attempt is successul.$

7hat these so called experts ail to re!eal is the precise lesson e!entually learned. 7hy8

&nd why can"t that lesson be taught and mastered beore a user"s irst attempt e!er8

They don"t teach it because most don"t understand it themsel!es. 5nstead they excuseailure beore it occurs, as i trying to protect the particular smoking cessation product theyare pushing rom being blamed or deeat.

The lesson e!entually gleaned rom the school o hard-reco!ery-knocks is that $i 5 take somuch as one pu, dip or chew 5 will relapse.$ 'ust one, just once and deeat is all butassured.

$The idea that you can"t stop the irst time is absolutely wrong,$ teaches 'oel.A1

$The onlyreason it takes most people multiple attempts is that they don"t understand their addiction tonicotine. ow could they, no one really teaches it.$

$*eople ha!e to learn by screwing up one attempt ater another until it inally dawns onthem that each time they lost it, it happened by taking a pu. 5 you understand thisconcept rom the get-go, you don"t ha!e to go through chronic Ostopping and startingP.$

AA rody &% et al,Eigarette smoking saturates brain alpha beta nicotinic acetylcholine receptors,&rchi!es oMeneral *sychiatry, &ugust 00F, Golume FH


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/he w Relected in ;tudie$

4es, once all nicotine use ends, a single subsequent use is extremely accurate in predictingull and complete relapse.

The 3BB0 randon lapse/relapse study ollowed 3B smokers who successully completed atwo-week stop smoking program or two additional years.AB %apse was deined as anytobacco use regardless o how much.

&mong those who lapsed, the mean number o days between the end o the smokingcessation program and lapse was two months


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-- :reedom rom icotine & /he Journey 7ome

lapsed experienced ull relapse within one day, that the study"s mean a!erage rom lapse torelapse was nine days.

Those who quickly experience ull relapse increase the likelihood o learning, right away,the critical lesson o the power o using nicotine just once.

ut the more time and distance between that irst use and ull dependency resumption, thegreater likelihood there is o learning the wrong lesson, a lesson that or ar too manysmokers pro!es deadly.

$The ex-smoker who takes a drag and doesn"t get hooked gets a alse sense o conidence,$writes 'oel. $e thinks he can take one any time he wants and not get hooked. ;sually,within a short period o time sneaking a drag here and there, he will become hooked.$

$Kne day he too may try to stop and actually succeed. e may stop or a week, month, ore!en years. ut always in the back o his mind he eels, "5 know 5 can ha!e one i 5 reallywant to. &ter all, 5 did it last time and didn"t get hooked right away."$

$Kne day, at a party or under stress or just out o boredom he will try one again. #aybe thistime he will get hooked, maybe not. ut you can be sure that there will be a next time.6!entually he will become hooked again.$

%i!ing a series o perpetual relapses, trying to break ree again and again and again, eachtime enduring withdrawal and reco!ery is no way to li!e. $Taking the irst drag is a no-winsituation,$ cautions 'oel.

K!er the years, hundreds o millions o ex-users ha!e disco!ered the power o one pu, dipor chew totally on their own. ut o!er the years, with arri!al o each new magic cure, sel-disco!ery o the %aw o &ddiction has become increasingly diicult.

5 old enough, think back to 3B10, beore arri!al o nicotine replacement therapy


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alternati!e but to attack it. Three decades o industry brainwashing has alsely painted coldturkey as nearly impossible with ew succeeding.

Eold turkey is ree yet poor. 5t has no bank account, economic muscle or political clout.The industry"s attacks, alse representations and gradual takeo!er o go!ernment cessation

policy went largely unnoticed and unchallenged.

1H

Today, pharmaceutical industry inancial inluence has played a major role in authoringoicial national cessation policy in nearly e!ery de!eloped nation on earth.1

;nopposed, by 'une 000 the industry"s muscle had grown so powerul here in the ;.(.that cessation policy was rewritten so as to make use o pharmaceutical industry cessationproducts mandatory unless the user"s medical condition prohibited it.1I

5nstead o teaching the %aw o &ddiction and the power o nicotine to oster relapse, thepharmaceutical industry teaches that nicotine is $medicine$ and its use is $therapy.$

5t has ne!er made a commercial announcing to smokers that it redeined $stoppingsmoking$ rom its traditional meaning o ending both smoking and nicotine use, to just asingle method o nicotine deli!ery, smoking it.

The industry has yet to re!eal that its more than 00 $medication$ studies were not aboutdrug addicts arresting their chemical dependency upon nicotine.

4ou see, those studies did not test body luids to see i any participant actually becamenicotine ree. 5nstead, they tested the breath o participants or expired carbon monoxide,

to see i participants had stopped smoking it.

Kne o the best kept industry secrets is the percentage o ormer smokers who continued toremain dependent upon replacement nicotine at study"s end or who turned to oral tobacco.

That"s why it"s so important that each o us teach the %aw o &ddiction to users within oursphere o inluence. 7hy8 ecause jumping rom product to product while earing yournatural reco!ery instincts, it"s getting hard to sel-disco!er the %aw, and that"s a horriblereason to die.

Ju$t one rule & o icotine /ody@

7hile there are scores o stop smoking books and quick-ix magic cures promising nearpainless and sure-ire success, there is but one principle that aords a 300C guarantee toall adhering to it ... $no nicotine today.$

1H *olito, '?, lawed research equates placebo to cold turkey, 7hyLuit.com, #arch 3, 00A.1 elliker, >,:icotine ix - ehind &ntismoking *olicy, 5nluence o Drug 5ndustry, 7all (treet 'ournal - ebruary

1, 00A, *age &3J also see, *olito '?,;.(. quit smoking policy integrity drowns in pharmaceutical inluence,7hyLuit.com, #ay 3H, 001.

1I *olito, '?,Does updated tobacco treatment $Muideline$ relect sham science87hyLuit.com, #ay I, 001.
http://www.whyquit.com/http://whyquit.com/pr/031207.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/NRT/WSJ_Helliker_Nicotine_Fix_020807.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/051308.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/051308.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/051308.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/050508.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/050508.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/050508.htmlhttp://www.whyquit.com/http://whyquit.com/pr/031207.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/NRT/WSJ_Helliker_Nicotine_Fix_020807.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/051308.htmlhttp://whyquit.com/pr/050508.html


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7hile the randon, oreland and Mar!ey studies aord the junkie mind a tiny sli!er ojunkie thinking wiggle-room in belie!ing that the $%aw o &ddiction$ can be cheated, it"simpossible to ail by li!ing the $%aw$ as an absolute.

7hy test the ability o our dopamine pathways to make pathway acti!ating e!entsextremely diicult to orget or ignore8 7hy challenge our brain"s design8 7hy toy withdisastrous odds8

Kne hit will be too many, while a thousand ne!er enough. 7e cannot ail so long as allnicotine remains on the outside. 'ust one rule to staying ree, none today


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Chpter 3

Quitting ou

The real $you$ ne!er, e!erneeded nicotine. 4ou were ineon your own. The real $you$didn"t need the sense o wantingsatisaction that arri!ed witheach new supply, or theanxieties associated withneeding more.

The real us typically unctionedmore towards the center,

without nicotine"s eeding cyclemood swings.

(o what i you ne!er, e!erneeded to inhale or juicenicotine again8 7hat i yourmind was once again allowed tobe itsel, illed with a rich senseo calm while stimulating itsdopamine pathways the naturalway, !ia great la!ors, big hugs,cool water, a sense oaccomplishment, riendship, nurturing, lo!e and intimacy8

7hat i days, weeks or e!en months passed comortably, without once thinking aboutwanting to use nicotine8 7ould that be a good thing or bad8

Quitting "$. Reco"ery

Luitting is a word that tugs at emotion. y deinition it associates itsel with departing,lea!ing, orsaking and abandonment.

ut the real abandonment took place on the day nicotine dependent pathways suppressedall remaining memory o the beauty o lie without nicotine, when no longer able to recallhow antastic we unctioned without it.

This book isn"t about quitting. 5t"s about reco!ering a person long ago orgotten, the realand wonderul $you$

The word $quitting$ tends to paint nicotine cessation in gray and black, in the doom and
http://www.whyquit.com/http://www.whyquit.com/


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gloom o bad and horrible.

5t breeds anticipatory ears, inner demons, needless anxieties, external enemies and !isionso suering. 5t osters a natural sense o sel-depri!ation, o lea!ing something !aluablebehind.

:ow, contrast quitting with reco!ery. ?eco!ery doesn"t run or hide rom our addiction.5nstead, it boldly embraces who we became, and e!ery aspect o this temporary journey ore-adjustment.

7hen knowledge based, we"re looking or reco!ery symptoms, emotions, conditioning andjunkie thinking, and !iew each encounter as an opportunity to reclaim another piece o anicotine-ree lie.

:icotine dependency reco!ery presents an opportunity to experience what may be ourrichest period o repair and sel-disco!ery e!er. Tissues are allowed to heal, senses awakenand the brain"s neuro-chemicals again low in response to lie not nicotine.

5t"s a period where each challenge o!ercome awards us another piece o our pu))le, apu))le that once complete relects a lie reclaimed.

5t is not necessary that we delete the word $quit$ rom our thinking, !ocabulary or thisbook


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www.WhyQuit.com -9

that today, e!ery day, you cannot seem to get o your mind, a chemical that is a mandatorypart o e!ery day"s plan8

7hy ear arri!ing here on 6asy (treet with nearly a billion comortably reco!ered nicotineaddicts8 5s reedom o thought and action a good thing or bad8 5 good, why ear it8

ow wonderul would it be to again reside inside a quiet mind where our addiction"schatter gradually becomes inrequent and then rare8

(la!e to our world o nicotine-normal, we were each pro!ided a new identity. Eapti!ebrain dopamine pathways did their designed job and did it well. They let us con!incedthat our next nicotine ix was central to sur!i!al, as important as water or ood.

5 recently read disturbing comments posted by more than one hundred long-term nicotinegum addicts. Kne, a HF year-old woman, wrote, $5 ha!e to say, 5 traded one problem oranother. 5 chew mg /A and can go through 3A0 pieces in less than F days. 5 ha!e been

chewing :icorette now or 3 years. 5 5 run out or a short time my mood becomesirrational. 5t is costing me more money than 5 ha!e. 5 ha!e chosen :icorette o!er oodmany times.$1F

7e can only hope that such honesty leads her to ask and answer the bigger question,$why8$ opeully someday soon she"ll eel what it"s like to comortably engage her entireday without once wanting or nicotine.

Eontrary to the alse sur!i!al training lesson constantly being pounded into her brain byher hijacked priorities teacher, she"d be lea!ing nothing o !alue behind. 6!en the lo!e in

her heart, she"d get to bring it with her.

!n


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loose tobacco jawed until letting go o .I milligrams81A

&nd then we"d wait or nicotine"s two-hour elimination hal-lie and a alling tonicdopamine le!el to command us to start again, or we"d accelerate elimination byencountering stress, drinking alcohol or consuming !itamin E.11

:icotine"s presence altered our body"s natural sensiti!ities, diminished our ability to relax,highjacked our priorities and consumed precious time. (moking it diminished lungunction while gradually destroying our body"s ability to recei!e and transport oxygen.

7hether smoked, chewed or sucked, tobacco diminished the accuracy o our smell andtaste, while making us home to smoke"s more than ,000 chemicals or oral tobacco"s morethan ,II0.1B5 a smoker, we introduced up to 13 cancer causing chemicalsB0and up to 1carcinogens i an oral tobacco user.B3

%ike a mouse on an exercise wheel, there can be no end to this endless cycle o madnessunless we get o, unless nicotine"s arri!al ends.

:orgotten RelBtion

Two million years o e!olution prepared us to ight or lee the now extinct saber tooth tiger.Kur body"s response to sensing danger or sudden stress is acti!ation o the $ight or light$pathways o the sympathetic ner!ous system. :icotine also acti!ates these pathways.B

:icotine"s arri!al in the brain causes the release o noradrenaline


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extremity blood low causing the temperature o our ingers to drop up to se!en degrees,Bthat accelerates breathing, dilates our pupils, perks our senses, shuts down digestion, andthat triggers the release o glucose and ats rom our body"s energy stores8

&s acti!e addicts, most o us claimed that nicotine helped us relax. ut acti!ating our

ight or light response shows just how neuro-chemically conused we became regardingnicotine"s impact upon us.

Try to imagine what it is like to go hours or an entire day without ha!ing adrenaline beingpumped into your bloodstream.

7hat would it eel like to stop endlessly beating yoursel as i whipping a tired horse, tostop responding to non-existent saber tooth tigers, to again know and bask in ull andcomplete relaxation or extended periods o time8

:orgotten Clm #uring Cri$i$

a!e you e!er noticed what you reach or during crisis8 That"s right - as just re!iewed - aner!ous system stimulant.

& ne!er-smoker and a smoker both experience lat tires while dri!ing in a ree)ing rain.They stop, get out and look at the lat. The ne!er-smoker sighs then immediately reachesor a jack to change the tire. &nd the smoker reaches or a ....8 That"s right, a cigarette.ut why8

a!e you e!er watched the oaming that occurs when a liquid baking soda solution


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The measure o the acidity or base


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inhaled chemicals upon their lungs and respiratory system.

7hat was it like to run like the wind, toengage in an extended period o briskphysical acti!ity without becoming seriously

winded8

7hat was it like to climb light ater lighto stairs, to play ull-court basketball, or tochase a child or the amily pet withoutending up gasping or air8

6!ery now and then 5 meet a current smokerwho proudly boasts that they enjoy running.7hat they don"t seem to appreciate is thetremendous strain they subject their heartand body to when doing so. 5t"s a matter othe a!ailability o suicient oxygen to keep!igorously working muscle well ueled andali!e.

Earbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless toxic gas produced when any carbon-basedmaterial is burned, including tobacco.

7hen smoking, the amount o carbon monoxide entering the bloodstream !aries greatly


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The chemical attraction between carbon monoxide and hemoglobin is 00-I0 timesgreater than with oxygen.30H 7hat"s worse, once attached to hemoglobin, carbonmonoxide"s long chemical bloodstream hal-lie o to F.I hours30destroys the ability ored blood cells to engage in transporting oxygen.

Think about that last pu. Kne-hal o the carbon monoxide in it will still be circulatinginside your bloodstream roughly our hours later. 5s it any wonder that our heart and bodyrebelled when we attempted !igorous exercise, hours ater smoking8

7e don"t just depri!e our heart and muscles o oxygen. 7e daily paint the inside o ourlungs with the ,000 chemicals that the tobacco industry collecti!ely reers to as tar. 5t"stoo little oxygen and too much gunk.

7e like to think that most o what we suck into our lungs is exhaled but it just isn"t so.:inety-se!en percent o :::


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5t isn"t that the basic person and personality underlying nicotine dependency is signiicantlydierent. 5t"s that their addiction has disrupted their sensiti!ities, and has the wrongchemicals lowing at the wrong times.

&side rom dopamine, nicotine has command and control o serotonin, our stress busting

neurotransmitter with ties to mood, impulse control, anger and depression.

30F

5ncluded among the estimated 00 neuro-chemicals that nicotine controls, mediates orregulates are acetylcholine, arginine !asopressin,30AM&&,301glucose,30Bglutamate,330neuropeptide (,333anti-apoptotic R5&*,33epinephrine and nor-epinephrine.

7hat is it like to na!igate nicotine dependency reco!ery, arri!e home and or the irst timein a long time allow lie, not nicotine, to decide which neuro-chemicals your awarenesswill sense8

:orgotten ;en$e$

7e sometimes hear tobacco userstell us that they smoke, chew, dipor !ape or the la!or or aroma.5 you ha!en"t heard others say it,you"!e certainly seen tobaccoindustry marketing suggest it.Truth is, powerul tobacco toxinsrob users o the ability toaccurately smell and taste.

5 used to barely get through thebank door to make the dailydeposit when one cashier, withoutlooking up, would say, $i 'ohn$

Kne day 5 made the mistake o

30F ?ausch '% et al,6ect o nicotine on human blood platelet serotonin uptake and eluxm, *rogress in:europsychopharmacology + iological *sychiatry, 3B1B, Golume 3H


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asking how she knew it was me. $7hen the door closes behind you,$ she said, $a rush oair that smells like smoke announces your arri!al.$ 5t hurt. 5 didn"t know whether tochange banks or brands.

(ensory ner!e endings in the mouth and nasal passages begin healing within three days o

ending tobacco use.

Does e!erything smell and taste better8 :o. &s my mentor 'oel puts it, you smell and tastee!erything more accurately, but that does not necessarily mean better.

&s 'oel notes, that irst spring will bring the aroma o lowers that will likely be ar moreintense than you percei!ed while smoking. ut wait until you dri!e by a garbage dump orsewage treatment plant.

The same is true o taste. 7ith an accurate sense o taste, there may be la!ors you thoughtyou liked that no longer appeal to you, or oods you were con!inced were horrible that nowbecome wonderul.

7hat is it like to smell coee brewing more than a hundred eet away8 5magine being ableto identiy e!ery smoker you meet by the thousands o chemicals which coat their hair, skinand clothing.

lour isn"t just white and rain just wet. They both oer subtle yet distinct aromaexperiences.

Think about ha!ing missed out on the natural smell o those you lo!e, the scent o a new

baby, the aromas that tease as we walk past a bakery, or eeling compelled to stop andsmell e!ery lower, as i planted just or you.

7hat is it like to li!e with healed senses8 $Eome to where the la!or is.$ Eome home toyou

:orgotten Meltime

5 almost ne!er ate breakast and usually skippedlunch. owe!er, that"s not entirely accurate.

4ou see, nicotine was my spoon.

:icotine was my spoon. 7ith each pu, nicotineacti!ated my body"s light or light response,which would almost instantly dump stored ats and sugars


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The consequences o torturing my body this way were many, including a C increase inthe risk o de!eloping type 55 diabetes


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to reclaim such a massi!e chunk o lie8 7hat would it be like or your days to be entirelyyours8

7hat i your mouth, hands and time were again yours without precondition8 7here wouldyou go, what would you do, and what would you become i not chained to mandatory

eedings8

:orgotten Prioritie$, :or$(en ie

5t is entirely normal or drug addicts to truly and deeply belie!e that drug use enhanceslie, that it punctuates rather than interrupts it. ut rarely do they stop and relect upon therealities o capti!ity and ull price o bondage.

:icotine"s two-hour elimination hal-lie in human blood serum is a eeding clock withouteeling or conscience. 5t cannot respect lie, time or priorities.

7hen nicotine reser!es and tonic dopaminebegin alling, it will not matter i themoment being interrupted is the mostwonderul o our entire day, year or lie.

The mind"s sur!i!al instincts moti!ator iscapti!e to nicotine. The lesson thiscircuitry"s design now compels it to !i!idlyand irmly implant within our brain is that

nicotine use is core to sur!i!al, as importantas ood.

5n act, nicotine use becomes more requentand trumps eating instincts. *art o ourbody"s ight or light response is to shutdown digestion, so as to di!ert more blood to large muscles.

&ny acti!ity lasting longer than the time we could comortably go between nicotineeedings became a sacriicial lamb. 7here might we ha!e gone, what might we ha!e done

and whom might we ha!e met8 7hat learning was missed8

Ehemical dependency onset did more than simply modiy our core sur!i!al instincts. 5tbecame ele!ated abo!e amily, riends, ood, work, accomplishment, romance, lo!e andconcentration.

4ou"d think we would ha!e immediately questioned such a massi!e shit in priorities. owcould we not notice the amount o time de!oted to nicotine and its impact upon our senses,sensiti!ities, relaxation, crisis management, meals and moods8


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7e didn"t notice because nicot

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