According to Pfizer, "Smoking is a treatable medical condition". Why do you agree/disagree?

Question

http://www.mytimetoquit.com/content/Talk_to_Your_Doctor.jsp?setShowOn=../content/PlanYourQuit.jsp&setShowHighlightOn=../content/Talk_to_Your_Doctor.jsp

Answer 1

I agree. I used Chantix for 3 months and I have not smoked in 2 years.

Answer 2

you treat the condition by not participating in the first place. yes, i know there physiological withdrawl, but hey..mind over matter.

(don't give big pharma your money if you don't absolutely have to.)

Answer 3

It's like any addiction, the only reason I could see why anybody would disagree that it is a "medical condition" is because, unlike hard drug use or alcohol abuse, nicotine dependency carries less of a social stigma and does not actively interfere with people's daily lives.

I think it's treatable though, through nicotine patches or gum, once the user admits to themselves that the practice isn't healthy or is becoming too expensive.

Answer 4

Ah, yes!  A drug company trying a different marketing angle.

My personal opinion is that they are trying the "smoking is a medical condition" line so that people don't feel responsible for their own choices in life and to include the word "medical" to soften the whole issue.  Smoking is not a medical condition: it's a personal choice.

If you're trying to give up, all the best to you.  I am proud of anyone who can kick the habit.  I am not a smoker (haven't even had one cigarette and am not going to touch them) but I was addicted - for what it's worth since it is seen as a lesser evil - to caffeine for several years and, if I didn't have that strong coffee in the morning, I would have a terrible, agonising headache by the end of the day.  I managed to give it up in my third year of study, returned to it by my fifth, but have managed to stop again.  I deliberately do not even have coffee-flavoured anythings - food, drink, and so on.

Good luck to those out there and I sort-of know what you're going through. :-)