Modern Polymath

There is this company in Oxnard, CA called Nico Worldwide Inc., which is making a product called Nic Light, a lemon, flavored, nicotine infused drink. They’ve recently applied for license in Canada as a prescription drug. All I can think is “How irresponsible”. We already have the gum, and the patch, and we already know that people become addicted to these just as easily as they do cigarettes. So now this company strolls along asking for its piece of the pie of addicted people around the world to use their product instead of whatever else. They are planning to market this drink in the US as simply a subsitute for having a cigarette when some kind of ban prevents them. They want to make it available in a bunch of airports in the US. They claim the product is a dietary suppliment because nicotine is found in a bunch of plants. Yeah, so is THC. The wise FDA is saying no, its an unapproved drug and Nico Worldwide Inc. is in violation, even though they the company says the FDA approved the product in 2004.

Admit it already. People aren’t addicted to smoking; they are addicted to nicotine. So, what kind of solution is giving addicts a new process for nicotine delivery? People become addicted to the patch, they become addicted to the nicotine gum, so what kind of responsible person is going to make another addictive product, prescription or not?

I started smoking in August of 1989. I quit January of this year, 2006. After reading all I could on the subject, I realized that “Nicotine Replacement Therapy” is a crock of shit. The only way to overcome the addiction to Nicotine is to stop using Nicotine. I quit, finishing my last cigarettes at a bar playing pool, and went home to never smoke again. I told all my friends I was quitting, I told all my coworkers too. I sent out emails, posted it on MySpace, and knew, if I smoked after that, someone would know I was a failure. The first 3 days sucked. The first 3 weeks were crappy. Then, slowly but surely, I forgot about them. Every now and then, a tiny little desire for a cigarette comes into my brain. Then I remember all the reasons why I quit, and before I know it, the desire is gone.

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