I think the electronic cigarette is a great stop smoking aid and definitely the best nicotine replacement therapy available on the market but should we really be treating them as a long term substitute for smoking or a stepping stone to a drug free existence? I used the e cigarette along with the “easy way to stop smoking” book by Allen Carr to rid myself of nicotine and wholeheartedly recommend them to any smoker who wants to quit. But, my belief is that our aim should be to work on becoming nicotine free as possible.

Don’t get me wrong, swapping tobacco for vaporized nicotine is going to do wonders for your health if you are a long term smoker but cutting out nicotine entirely should be the next step.

What I have discovered is that a life that doesn’t revolve around a drug addiction is a happier, more content life. What’s natural about having a constant urge to supply your body with a chemical, whether natural or man made, at regular intervals throughout the day? To me there is something wrong with finding yourself on this amazing planet and being horrified that you have run out of nicotine, but this is the predicament smokers find themselves whenever they find their supplies diminishing. Cut out the addiction and you’ll be surprised how simple things become far more enjoyable and you’ll probably find that you become a more productive human being.

I know that many people who are still smoking or vaping are going to have a fit when they read this but I’m not writing with the intent of pissing people off, I just want convince as many people as possible that they can live a life without nicotine and the first step in doing so is realizing that whatever you think it adds to your life is an illusion.

There’s no doubt in my mind that E Cigarettes are miles ahead of tobacco products as a way to deliver nicotine to the system in terms of their effect on your health but is your aim to find a healthier way to be a drug addict or to free yourself from the shackles of addiction for good?

My advice is to get a hold of the “Easy way to stop smoking” book and an E cigarette if you need it as a way to get off the smokes. In time wean yourself off nicotine altogether and you’ll find life to be an altogether more enjoyable experience.

Not really sure what they mean when they say you are ‘up to’ 4 times more likely to stop though, and when did they start calling nicotine replacement therapies ’stop smoking medicine’? I don’t know, maybe they’re just so excited about the opportunity to stop people smoking that they get a bit carried away with themselves.

You know I’m a bit skeptical about the drug companies in general but I wonder how hard the pharmaceutical companies push the NHS to flog their products to the public extra hard. And calling nicotine replacement therapy a medicine seems like an outright lie. I mean if a medicine is a substance used to treat a disease or illness then I guess nicotine addiction is now a disease. Sounds to me as if someone is trying to gloss over the fact that these ’stop smoking medicines’ do exactly the same thing as the cigarette you are trying to give up, that is deliver nicotine into your bloodstream.

Still, I guess if the NHS really achieves its aim of increasing peoples chances to stop smoking then its worth giving it a shot if you’re in the UK and having trouble giving up the weed. Just try and do it without the aid of the ’stop smoking medicines, the drug companies have enough money and you can stop without their help.