Tobacco use has many consequences that   can negatively effect users physically, mentally, and even socially. Therefore, it’s no wonder why nearly 7 out of every 10 users desire to quit. So how do these addicts manage to eventually defeat their tobacco addictions? The solution for many is the process of satisfying their nicotine dependency through means other than tobacco consumption, known as Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT). This therapy includes items such as the nicotine patch, nicotine inhalator, nicotine lozenges, even nicotine nasal spray! But the most popular and proven most effective is the nicotine chewing gum.

In a double-blind placebo-controlled experiment, out of 94 participants that were given the nicotine gum, 70 reported that it reduced their their urge to use tobacco, and 45 out of 93 that were given the placebo reported the same. The conclusion was that nicotine chewing gum is effective in improving the success rates of desired quitters, but my question is how does a placebo work in this instance?  Chewing nicotine gum is far different in taste and also in that the nicotine can be felt especially from a tobacco user. Other than the questionability of the effect of the placebo, I believe this study was well done in that the scientists found direct evidence of exactly what they were looking for: nicotine chewing gum positively effects the success rates of tobacco quitters.

Another study conducted in the United Kingdom observed the effects of quitting tobacco “cold turkey” against the effects of a gradual approach as we see in Nicotine Replacement Therapy. The study found that most of the users attempted the “cold turkey” method, with a 22%-27%  success rate, while the gradual method had a success rate of 12%-16%. According to this study, nicotine gum and other such products should not be used in an attempt to quit. Rather, users should just quit once and all together; but I disagree due to some problems with this study. First of all, this study was only conducted in the United Kingdom and therefore in a place with different culture and regular habits of the regular population than our own. Also, this was an observational study which involved the “random-digit-dialing” telephone survey in which the scientists merely asked questions over the phone, suggesting a level of dishonesty which is very possible in this instance. For example, one can say they quit “cold turkey” even though they may have had a few cigarettes along the way to help with the stress.

I believe that Nicotine Replacement Therapy, and more specifically nicotine chewing gum is the most effective way to quit tobacco use. Aside from the observational study, I see the experimental study as much more authentic because the scientists were physically there to conduct it, rather than surveying random people. This is a perfect example of the fact that experimental studies are the most effective scientific method of obtaining authentic data.