Smoking = nicotine : NOT (improved)

kinabaloo;4525081 said:

From one of the most pro-vaping articles ever seen in the MSM:

"Some 50 million Americans continue to smoke, and it’s not because they’re too stupid to realize it’s dangerous. They go on smoking in part because of a fact that the prohibitionists are loath to recognize: Nicotine is a drug with benefits. It has been linked by researchers (and smokers) to reduced anxiety and stress, lower weight, faster reaction time and improved concentration.

“It’s time to be honest with the 50 million Americans, and hundreds of millions around the world, who use tobacco,” Dr. Rodu writes. “The benefits they get from tobacco are very real, not imaginary or just the periodic elimination of withdrawal.

“It’s time to abandon the myth that tobacco is devoid of benefits, and to focus on how we can help smokers continue to derive those benefits with a safer delivery system.”

- http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/s...but-they-have-some-unlikely-critics.html?_r=1

The whole article is worth a read.

The only thing I have to disagree with is the use of the term 'nicotine'.

Even the most enlightened supporters of harm reduction are still making the mistake of equating smoking with nicotine. In the study in Italy, after 6 months with a free e-cig only 1/2 were still vaping and only 1/4 had stopped smoking entirely. I think these figures are likely close to the norm. And the fact that currently vaping is nicoyine-only accounts for that limited success. Yes, it's been a great success compared to NRTs, but it could be so much better.

Those figures are the evidence that the hypothesis is unwarranted. After all, why make that assumption - because that is all it is.

That it is the alkaloids that are the key, and not something else, is backed by science going back years; and a growing (but still small) body of testimony.

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