Smokers ‘can give up’

Press, 24 May 1985, Page 5

Smokers ‘can give up’

Smokers can give up by gradually decreasing their dependence on nicotine, according to a visiting American professor yesterday.

Professor Richard Foxx, from Illinois, runs a gradual stop-smoking programme in the United States. It has had a 40 per cent rate of people giving up completely and a 60 per cent rate of people continuing to smoke, but on the lowest tar-nicotine cigarette available.

Smoking lower tar cigarettes was somewhat “safer,” he said in Christchurch.

Each week those on the programme smoke a brand of cigarettes 30 per cent lower in tar than their normal brand. By the end of the month they aimed to be on the lowest tar cigarette. It was at that point they should quit, he said.

Because of the gradual drop in nicotine in their bodies they were less likely

to go through nicotine-with-drawal symptoms, said Professer Foxx.

They also plotted on a graph their daily intake of nicotine, which got lower each week if they used milder cigarettes.

Professor Foxx said that people wanting to use this programme should work closely with trained people. The psychology department at the University of Canterbury could be approached for help.