May be a drag but there’s no beating cold turkey

As director of a popular cold turkey quit smoking site, I shook my head after reading “Nicotine patches cost too much, says lobby group” (News, Feb 13).

It’s not about the cost. I challenge Ash Ireland to identify any independent population level study in which those using nicotine patches generate higher six-month or one-year success rates than those quitting on their own.

Truth is, while the nicotine patch clobbers placebo quitters inside randomised clinical trials, it gets clobbered just as badly by cold turkey quitters in real world use. There’s a host of reasons why but most notably, placebo isn’t a quitting method and clinical trials were not blind as claimed, as you cannot hide the onset of withdrawal from experienced quitters who’ve become experts at recognising it.