Nicotine Chewing Gum and the Medicalization of Smoking

Excerpt

Despite insufficient evidence to their advertised claims of success, expensive commercially available aids and clinics for smoking cessation proliferate. Methods include hypnotherapy, hydrotherapy, acupuncture, biofeedback, rapid smoking, special diets, filters, self-help books and tape cassettes, aversive conditioning with electric shocks, vivid films on smoking-related diseases, and even a live-in stop-smoking program (1). In Schwartz's comprehensive review (2) of tried but unproved methods for smoking cessation over the last century, chemical remedies abound: silver acetate, quinine sulfate, meprobamate, hydroxyzine, diazepam, amphetamines, anticholinergic agents, local anesthetics, astringent mouthwashes, garlic, vegetable-based products, placebos, nicotine substitutes such as lobeline (for example, the over-the-counter preparations