Chantix May not Induce Suicidal Behavior

According to a new British study the smoking cessation drug varenciline (Chantix) does not increase the risk of suicidal tendencies or depression. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently mandated that a "black box warning" be carried by the drug's packaging, which would indicate to users that by using the drug they were at risk of experiencing "serious neuropsychiatric symptoms." This includes...

Prince Harry Using Hypnotism to Quit Smoking

As a reminder to the rest of us, Prince Harry has shown that he is just as human as any other smoker. He was recently reported to have turned to a hypnotist in his desperation to quit smoking. Prince apparently smoked about 20 cigarettes a day before he managed to quit for about a year. However, he was recently spotted puffing away at a friend's wedding. Now he is hopping Paul McKenna's "Quit Smoking Now"...

Free Smoking Cessation Help

The Michigan Department of Community Health in Michigan has confirmed rumors that free nicotine patches and smoking cessation will be made available for smokers who want to drop the habit. London Bell, health and human services coordinator says, "It's our hope that by having these services available, people who might not normally be able to afford nicotine patches, will take advantage of this free service and take...

The Cost of Helping Smokers Quit on the Rise

In Britain, a lot of money has been put into smoking cessation services, but the number of people making use of them has not increased. Officials feel that helping smokers has become more difficult and that doing something to help these services would just be a waste of money. Out of the 671,259 people who had set themselves a quit date in one program, only half managed to stay off cigarettes for more than four weeks. Nearly...

Smoking Rate Sees Huge Drop in Japan

Smoking in Japan has seen a significant drop — the smoking population has never been this low in the island country, with less than a quarter of the population lighting up. The annual nationwide survey was released last Friday by Japan Tobacco Inc. — only 24.9% of those surveyed considered themselves regular smokers. Last years figures came in at 25.7%. This years result is the lowest it has been since 1965. In...

Hypnotherapy Helping Smokers Quit Cold Turkey

Being addicted to nicotine can be quite a miserable situation, and there are about a million factors out there to remind smokers of their dire situation. To make things worse, there are even more pills, injections, patches, books, support groups and there have even been attempts to genetically modify smokers to make them quit. However, one of the most difficult ways to quit seems to be the most successful and that is to quit...