KL Report
SRINAGAR
World No-tobacco day was observed across Jammu Kashmir on Friday with the renewal of the pledge to continue the individual and collective role against the smoking.
To mark the day, in the line with the charter of UN to raise awareness about the damages of smoking, special seminars, symposiums and walks were held in different places. These programs were organized on government and non-government level.
Speakers highlighted the negative impacts of the use of tobacco to the smokers, causes of cancer and warned the audience about the mounting trend of smoking among children in the world which indeed, was a matter of grave concern for the parents as well as for the global and national level.
Thanks Kashmir Life for your World No Tobacco Day article. It’s a golden opportunity to teach smokers and oral tobacco users both why they use and how to quit. While users invent long lists of use explanations, there is really only one. They will smoke, dip, chew, suck or vape that next nicotine fix because they must, because a rising tide of anxieties will begin to hurt if they don’t. Their brain dopamine pathways were taken hostage and have assigned the same use priority to using nicotine as they do to eating food. Yes, these are the same dopamine pathways involved in alcoholism onset and addiction to illegal drugs. Receptor activation, saturation and up-regulation, we became REAL drug addicts.
When quitting there is only one rule, that we cannot cheat this brain circuitry, as it is designed to make activating events nearly impossible in the short term (the time needed for recovery) to forget or ignore. In fact, brain scans show that just one puff and up to half of a smoker’s dopamine pathway receptors become occupied by nicotine. While most walk away from trying to cheat when quitting feeling like they have gotten away with it, it isn’t long before their brain wanting disorder grows hungry and is again begging for more. Yes, there is only one rule when quitting, it’s that we are real drug addicts, that for us one equals all, that one puff, dip, pinch, chew or vape will always be too many, while thousands never enough. Once ready, baby steps, just one day at a time, yes you can!
John R. Polito
Nicotine Cessation Educator
Director WhyQuit