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Below is a comment I wrote at the Freedom board when a member wrote asking about a certain quit aid that he or she saw a commercial for and was wondering what we thought of it. The comment applies to this and any other method anyone could ask about:
I have seen the XXXXXXXX ads in my area for quite a while. If I am not mistaken, I think I saw those same ads resurface over and over again over a pretty long time period—maybe years. It’s hard to keep all of the shams straight—they really do all look alike after a while. It is amazing what wild claims you will see for products to help you to quit smoking or lose weight too. It’s ironic that you don’t see such ads for alcoholism or heroin or crack dependencies. Why do you think that is? Because if someone made such wild claims about beating a real drug addiction they would likely be held accountable to back up those claims. It seems though that no such accountability is enforced with tobacco use. It’s a shame though, especially when considering we are dealing with the drug which is every bit as addictive as any of these others—actually more so except maybe for crack, and kills more people than all of them combined. But again, it is not like society really takes cigarettes seriously.
I could spend a lot of time researching each and every product that becomes available and makes wonderful claims but in all honesty, I have zero interest in any of them. You know when I will actually look into a product in depth. It is when I am out in the real world and all of a sudden encounter a few people, maybe five in a short time period who tell me that they actually have quit smoking and have been off for a solid year by using some product. This shouldn’t be hard for me to find considering I ask at least 50 new people a month, and sometimes hundreds of new people a month how they quit smoking and how the people they know who have quit smoking and have been off for at least a year, had actually first stopped. Well, this year I asked several thousand people—many of them physicians and dentists who also in turn deal with hundreds to thousands of people. You know how many times XXXXXXXXX was brought up? Zero. Do you know how many times somebody has emailed a question about xxxxxxxxx? Counting your email—one. Kind of gives you a clue to what kind of word of mouth this miracle product is getting from its users.
I am going to attach my introductory letter to my Stop Smoking Clinics here. It kind of covers the area of what I think of people using any kind of products that offer to make a person quit smoking.
Joel
Clinic Introductory Letter
By the time you walk out of this room tonight, you will have a better understanding of why you smoke and why you should quit. But understanding alone will not make smoking go away. Smoking is a true form of drug addiction, and, if you are going to beat it, you will have to treat it as such.
If you really want to quit, you will have to totally abstain from smoking from day one. Beating cigarettes will require a 100% effort on your part. Considering that you may be fighting for your life, it’s worth the trouble. Giving a 99.9% effort will be a guaranteed failure. If you think we are joking or exaggerating our position on cold turkey—think again. If you take a puff anytime in the next 24 hours, we don’t want you to return tomorrow. You can lie when asked if you smoked or not, but the loss will be yours. You are not ready for this clinic and you will be wasting your time and your money foolishly. In all probability, you will need that money to support your addiction.
Maybe you think there is some other program that will treat you kinder, be more tolerant and let you smoke between sessions. Just go to your local yellow pages, you will find numerous programs that will be glad to take your money.
Some will be cut down programs, others will say cold turkey but tell you not to let a slip discourage you. Some will offer hypnosis or acupuncture, others will be mysterious and elusive of specific therapy and costs, but will promise medical treatments taking away all withdrawal. They will all be very friendly, courteous, and much more accommodating than we are. If you are looking for a promise for an easy way out, go to any of them. If you have thousands of dollars of spare cash you wish to dispose of, try them all.
As long as you feel that there is some magic approach out there taking away all of the effort and responsibility from yourself, you are not ready to make the commitment necessary to succeed in our program. If, on the other hand, you have tried all the alternatives, or you are realistic enough to recognize that you are an addict, and you totally refrain from smoking for the next 24 hours, you are ready for our program. We will help you beat your addiction. We will offer you all the help humanly possible. But the ultimate success or failure is your responsibility.
If you have any problems, questions, or just want to say hello, you can call me 24 hours a day. Call the pager number on my card. When asked to leave a message, dial in the number where you can be reached followed by the "#" sign, or, if you are at a rotary phone, dial the same number and leave a voice message with your phone number With either of these paging methods I will get back to you in minutes. But please call before taking a puff. You can call after you take a puff, but all I will say then is that you blew it, you are back to square one, and think about joining another clinic in the future. Since you already know what I will say, save the 50 cents for the call and put it toward your next pack.
Good luck through your first day. Again, if I can be of any assistance, don’t hesitate to call. We are out there behind you. We look forward to seeing you tomorrow. |
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