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Strange - doesn't mention Nicotine. I believe in patch or lozenge this has as much affect as caffeine [1]. Note that I'm not advocating smoking, just the nicotine itself.

[1] http://discovermagazine.com/2014/march/13-nicotine-fix



Recently listened to a Freakonomics podcast[1] about how to make people quit smoking. There were two related points that stuck with me.

1. Nicotine can have a lot of positive benefits. As one of their experts stated, “Good drug, bad delivery system.”

2. One of those benefits is a possible anti-depressant effect. So smoking may inadvertently be treating a person’s undiagnosed mental health issue[2], an additional difficulty when trying to quit smoking.

This second point has made me a little more compassionate towards smokers, and to the difficulty of quitting. (As least in theory, still get annoyed when I can smell cigarette smoke on myself after a trip down to the shops because of some smoker on the sidewalk.)

[1] http://freakonomics.com/2014/04/03/how-to-make-people-quit-s...

[2] NOT advocating this as an excuse to continue smoking. There are better treatments.


If it's just about nicotine though one can use gum, patches, vaporisers - in fact I can't really see why anyone would smoke now, you can get the drug in a cleaner way more cheaply by vaping.

It seems like choosing to chug anti-freeze when you've got high-class liquor available.


I don't think smoking, and trying to quit smoking, it just about the nicotine. That's just one aspect of the issue.


Oh, just 250+ citations on nicotine here: http://examine.com/supplements/Nicotine/


Wow, I haven't read the article but I must say that I am very impressed with its organization and presentation of ideas/data.




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