06 novembre 2009
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE TOBACCO-CONTROL ACTIVITIES
DoD and each of the armed services have a stated goal of a tobacco-free military, but
tobacco-control efforts have not been given high priority by the Office of the Assistant Secretary
of Defense for Health Affairs, OASD(HA), or the individual services’ Office of the Surgeon
General. There have been recent signs, however, that tobacco control is receiving more attention
with the rollout of DoD’s “Quit Tobacco. Make Everyone Proud” public-education campaign.
DoD policies to prevent smoking and encourage cessation are outlined in the Code of Federal
Regulations, Title 32, Part 85, which charges each armed service to develop its own healthpromotion
plans. The service plans typically cover where military personnel may use tobacco,
requirements for access to tobacco-cessation programs, and specifications about the role of
commanders and staff in promoting tobacco cessation and deglamorizing tobacco use.
In 1999, the Alcohol and Tobacco Advisory Counsel in the OASD(HA) developed a
Tobacco Use Prevention Strategic Plan that outlined goals and tasks; metrics and objectives;
policy, program, practice, and resource requirements; and a timeline. That plan, which is still in
effect, has eight goals:
• Reduce smoking rates by 5% per year and reduce smokeless-tobacco use to 15% by
2001.
• Promote a tobacco-free lifestyle and culture through education and leadership.
• Educate commanders in how to encourage healthy and tobacco-free lifestyles.
• Promote the benefits of nonsmoking and provide tobacco counteradvertising.
• Decrease accessibility by increasing tobacco prices and by restricting smoking areas and
use.
• Have the MHS identify users and provide targeted interventions.
• Have the MHS provide effective cessation programs.
• Continually assess best practices in tobacco-use prevention.
The strategic plan covers many of the key components that make up a comprehensive
tobacco-control plan, including the existence of a strategic plan itself, policy review and
development, public-relations and education activities, the use of evidence-based tobaccocessation
interventions, and surveillance and evaluation. It also has requirements for specific
policies on tobacco pricing, access, and restrictions of when and where tobacco can be used on
installations.
The committee found that DoD and the services had not been able to achieve the goal of
reducing smoking rates or rates of smokeless-tobacco use. Tobacco use declined overall from
1980 to 2005, but there has recently been an increase in consumption, possibly because of
increased tobacco use by deployed troops.
DoD and the services have promoted tobacco-free lifestyles through public-education
campaigns, commander training, a complete ban on tobacco use during basic military training in
all the services, and prohibition of tobacco use by training instructors in the presence of students.
Tobacco use is addressed in health-education programs, including those for commanding
officers. The services also encourage—but do not require—that commanders lead by example
with regard to tobacco use. The Air Force has been the most successful in reducing tobacco use,
particularly among officers.
Tobacco counteradvertising is a complex issue in the military and is not consistent among
the services. DoD’s counteradvertising campaign “Quit Tobacco. Make Everyone Proud”
includes a Web site, posters, games, and educational materials tailored to young military men.
DoD tobacco-cessation activities conducted by health-promotion personnel include health fairs,
Web sites, and other activities that raise the profile of tobacco cessation. The committee was
unable to determine whether public-affairs staff are engaged in tobacco counteradvertising, but it
noted that many of the services’ newsletters and Web sites contain articles on tobacco-control
activities.
22 octobre 2009
Health quit methods
Three Days of Natural Juices - Unless diabetic, drink plenty of natural acidic fruit juice the first three days. Cranberry is excellent. Acidic juices will not only aid in more quickly removing the alkaloid nicotine but will help stabilize blood sugars and avoid needless symptoms. Take care beyond three days as juices can be rather fattening. If diabetic, talk to our doctor about a diet rich in foods low on the glycemic index, foods converted to glucose more slowly, that will leave you feeling fuller longer.
Weight Gain - We would need to gain at least 75 extra pounds in order to equal the health risks associated with smoking one pack-a-day. Consider vegetables and fruits instead of candies, chips and pastries to help avoid weight gain. Engage in some form of moderate daily exercise if at all concerned about weight gain. Keep in mind that those quitting smoking can expect a substantial increase in overall lung function within just 90 days of quitting. It will aid in engaging in extended periods of brisk physical activity, shedding pounds, and building cardiovascular endurance. Stress
Related Anxieties – Contrary to popular thinking, smoking or chewing nicotine does not relieve stress but only nicotine’s own absence. Nicotine is an alkaloid and stress is an acid-producing event capable of quickly neutralizing the body’s nicotine reserves. It is like pouring a liquid baking soda solution on an acid-covered car battery terminal, or watching someone waste money on yard care by applying fertilizer (acid) at the exact same time as limestone (an alkaloid). We actually added the onset of early withdrawal to every stressful event. New quitters often discover an amazing sense of calm during crisis. In handling stress during this temporary period of readjustment, practice slow, deep breathing while focusing your mind on your favorite object, place or person, to the exclusion of other thoughts.
Quitting for Others - We cannot quit for others. It must be our gift to us. Quitting for a child, spouse, parent, friend, the fetus, employer or doctor creates a natural sense of self-deprivation that is likely to ultimately result in relapse. If quitting for another person, how will an addict's junkie-mind respond the first time that person disappoints us?
24 septembre 2009
Denial phase of emotional recovery after smoking
The denial phase of emotional recovery is associated with ending a long and intense chemical relationship. It is the flip-side of active dependency denial, which used distortion and blocking techniques to provide cover and insulation that enabled us keep our nicotine relationship ongoing, while suppressing most anxieties associated with doing so. Denial is the unconscious defense mechanism - just below the surface - that allows us to resolve the emotional conflict and anxiety that would normally be felt by a person living in a permanent state of self-destructive chemical bondage.
Most nicotine addicts we'll see today are well insulated by a thick protective blanket of unconscious denial rationalizations, minimizations, fault projections, escapes, intellectualizations and delusions. They insulate them from the pain and reality of captivity, or create the illusion that the problem is somehow being solved. But here, during recovery, those same anxiety defense tools will now distort reality to buffer and aid transition to a nicotine-free life. Although we may say we are ending nicotine use, on a host of levels the mind isn’t yet convinced. If convinced, why do so many of us initially treat recovery as though some secret or hide in isolation? Why do we need an escape path? If convinced, why take comfort in knowing where that one hidden cigarette rests or the location of that last pouch, tin or pack? Why not throw them out, along with the ashtray or spit can?
The denial phase protects against the immediate emotional shock of leaving the most intense relationship we may have ever known, while embarking upon a journey from which there should be no return. It’s a shock buffer that allows us time to come to terms with where we now find ourselves. It operates unconsciously to diminish anxiety by refusing to perceive that recovery will really happen. While a positive force in allowing this journey to commence -- including allowing you the courage to reach for this book – it can also forecast relapse. It hurts to recall the number of times I went three days and then “rewarded” myself with that one puff that spelled relapse. It almost seems as though I’d endured the worst of withdrawal just to renew and invigorate lame “it’s too hard” rationalizations for continued smoking. Clearly I hadn’t made it beyond denial. But if I had, next up would have been anger.
15 septembre 2009
Recovery Sensations - Good, Not bad
The early days of recovery will be a significant challenge for some of us. Although it may sound strange, within reason, everything we feel as we climb to the point where withdrawal’s symptoms peak is beneficial and good not bad. What more honest signs of healing could we have? Does it make sense to fear healing? Why fight coming home to a place where entire days pass without ever once wanting nicotine? Don’t fight recovery, hug it. Hug it hard.
25 août 2009
I lose my friends becose of smoking
According to Philip Morris research, “over 85% of smokers agree strongly/very strongly with the statement, “I wish I had never started smoking.” Most of our friends feel the same and wish they knew how to stop. They can benefit greatly by having a friend in their corner who understands the journey users make in returning home. The nicotine addict’s mind has been conditioned to believe, through association, that using nicotine is central to our entire life, including friendships.
While true that we will no longer engage in nicotine use with any person, no relationship whose foundation is broader than shared drug use needs to be adversely affected by nicotine’s absence. Successful recovery need not deprive us of a single friend or loved one. On the contrary, tobacco use has probably cost us relationships. Fewer and fewer non-users are willing to tolerate being around the smells and smoke, and oral tobacco use can be a major turn-off. Aside from no longer using nicotine, our current lives do not need to change at all unless we want them to change. Mine did. I no longer sought situations that allowed me to feel comfortable smoking.
Fellow nicotine addicts don’t normally try to make each other feel guilty for being hooked and using. In fact, there can be a very real sense of dependency camaraderie. We serve as a form of “use” insurance for each other on those occasions when our supply runs out. Obviously, I no longer frequented community ashtrays. In fact, for the first time in my adult life I found myself totally comfortable sitting beside non-users and ex-users for extended periods of time. Gradually, yet increasingly, my circle of friends and acquaintances grew to include far more non-users and ex-users. It was as if my addiction had been picking relationships for me.
12 août 2009
Quitting “You”
The real “you” never, ever
needed nicotine. You were fine
on your own. The real “you”
never experienced the artificial
highs brought on by elevated
nicotine levels or the
devastating lows that often
accompany withdrawal. We
typically functioned more
towards the center without
such violent or disturbing
neuro-chemical mood swings.
So what if you never, ever
needed to smoke, dip, chew or
suck nicotine again? What if
your mind was once again
itself, filled with a constant
sense of calmness and getting
its dopamine releases the
natural way, from great food,
big hugs, cool water, a sense of
accomplishment, friendship,
nurturing, love and intimacy? What if days, weeks or even months passed comfortably,
without once thinking about wanting to use nicotine? Would that be good thing or bad?
05 août 2009
Nicotine addiction
Nicotine addiction is about living a life of lies, deceit and denial. Forgetting the amazingly
calm and quiet mind we once called home our "pay attention" pathways were fooled into
establishing a new number one priority in life, obtaining that next fix. We are drug addicts
in the truest sense.
We may forget to take our vitamin or medicine, procrastinate regarding work, skip meals,
miss-out on time with family, friends or romance, but we would not forget or fail to
respond to the bell for our next nicotine feeding.
Knowledge is key in our quest to return home.
Knowledge, some form of ongoing support
and an appreciation of the truth that just one powerful hit of nicotine all but assures relapse.
Like an alcoholic pretending they can have "just one sip," toying with true chemical
addiction as though it were some "nasty little habit" is a recipe for relapse.
As you’re about to learn, there is only one rule that governs recovery. We call it the "Law
of Addiction." Break the law and you lay to waste all of your effort and dreams of a life
free of nicotine. Abide by it and failure becomes impossible. Knowledge is power!
17 juillet 2009
Tobacco Impacts
CBO also estimates that the amount of tax revenues and settlement funds collected by state and local governments would decline as a result of the federal regulations authorized by this bill because of lower consumption of tobacco products.
However,
those declines in revenues, estimated to total over $1 billion during the 2010-2014
12
period, would not result from intergovernmental mandates. Rather, the decline in
revenues would be an indirect effect on state and local governments resulting from the
new federal regulations imposed on companies that manufacture and distribute tobacco
products.
In 2008, state and local governments collected about $19 billion in revenues from excise
and general sales taxes levied on tobacco products. CBO estimates that this bill would
lower consumption of those products and that excise taxes collected by state and local
governments would fall by about $20 million in 2010, with that reduction growing to
over $300 million in 2014. Similarly, CBO estimates that state and local governments
would see a decline in sales-tax revenues of about $160 million over the 2010-2014
period.
07 juillet 2009
Changes in cigarette prices
A large number of studies have been conducted to estimate demand for cigarettes in many countries.
The estimated price elasticities of demand for cigarettes from those studies vary. But most of the
estimates tend to be less than one, i.e., the demand for cigarettes is price-inelastic. A meta-analysis of
the determinants of cigarette consumption, which analysed results from 48 studies, yielded a weighted
mean price elasticity of demand for cigarettes of -0.4.
The short-term
price elasticity recommended by an expert panel for policy analysis is -0.4 . The long-term elasticity is about 1.5 times the short-term price elasticity. Youth and the poor
tend to be more responsive to changes in cigarette prices. Income, in general, is positively related to
demand for cigarettes. The estimated income elasticity is 0.36, but decreases with time. Restrictions on
smoking in public places and private work sites have significantly reduced demand for cigarettes
02 juillet 2009
Value of unprocessed tobacco
The value of unprocessed tobacco production in 1999 was US$1 100 billion, over 9 times the value for 1970, an increase only partly attributable to increased production.
Comparing domestic prices with international prices, using the so-called Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC), gives an estimate of the magnitude of market price distortion resulting from agricultural policies. During the 1970s, domestic and international price trends for unprocessed tobacco were very similar, in both direction and magnitude. However, in the first half of the 1980s, domestic prices declined while international prices were increasing slightly, tobacco producers were taxed rather than being supported. In contrast, in the 1990s, domestic prices began increasing faster than international prices indicating that protection to producers was increasing.