VAEP Key Concepts Video 11: Dying to Quit

Smoking is so bad for health and so hard to quit that doctors prescribe psychoactive medications that have side effects such as suicidal thoughts, violent outbursts, depression and psychotic episodes.(1) For instance when Champix hit the market in 2007, in the first 3 months, 988 serious injuries in the U.S. were reported to the FDA, more than any other drug in this time period.(2) Risking those side effects are scary but that’s how desperate smokers can be to quit smoking. When it comes to helping their patients quit, doctors are limited to these psychoactive drugs and recommendations from health authorities such as nicotine patches (which are not very effective).
If you live in the UK, however, doctors can, and do, recommend vaping to quit smoking.(3) Vaping is considered harm reduction because vaping virtually eliminates the disease-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke.(4)
You often hear that nicotine is an addiction, but it’s not, it’s a dependence. Dependence is when someone uses a substance and experiences withdrawal without it, for example nicotine or caffeine.(5) Addiction is the same, except there are negative consequences such as liver cirrhosis from alcohol or heart disease from smoking.(5) So, vaping is considered a dependence and smoking is considered an addiction.
I’m Kellie Ann, founder of Vaping Advocacy and Education Project, better known as VAEP. Since 2016, our nonprofit has been reviewing the science on vaping and making it easy for people to understand. We link to the sources of our information so you can read the studies yourself. Visit our website VAEP.info for vape info. https://VAEP.info
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Kellie Ann is wearing our Vintage crew neck purple tee https://shop.vaep.info/?product=vintage-crew-purple-tee
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References
1. American Cancer Society. (2023). Prescription Medicines to Help You Quit Tobacco. https://www.cancer.org/healthy/stay-away-from-tobacco/guide-quitting-smoking/prescription-drugs-to-help-you-quit-smoking.html
2. Institute for Safe Medication Practices. (2008). QuarterWatch Report: Strong Safety Signal Seen for Chantix (Varenicline). https://www.ismp.org/quarterwatchtm/strong-safety-signal-seen-chantix-varenicline
3. GOV.UK. (2023). Smokers urged to swap cigarettes for vapes in world first scheme https://www.gov.uk/government/news/smokers-urged-to-swap-cigarettes-for-vapes-in-world-first-scheme
4. Murkett, R., Rugh, M., & Dingm B. (2020). Nicotine products relative risk assessment an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. https://f1000research.com/articles/9-1225/v2
5. Szalavitz, M., Rigg, K. K., & Wakeman, S. E. (2021). Drug dependence is not addiction—and it matters. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8583742/

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