E-cigarettes help or hurt? Make up your damn mind #WTF

E-cigarettes might help smokers quit American Heart Association says.  To Quit Smoking, E-cigarette are last resort say Heart Association, Cancer Society.

#WTF?  That's right.  What.  The.  Fuck.  How does this possibly help?  Can we confuse people even more?

First off, if you ask me, e-cigarettes are nothing more than a scam.  It's a delivery device for nicotine.  It's no different than a regular cigarette except it MAY be better on your body.  MAY.  We really don't know.  What we do know is that it's another method of perpetuating and profiting from addiction at the extreme risk of other's health.

Yes, I am incredibly biased.  I have a book I am selling for profit that I wrote and published to help people conquer their addiction to nicotine.

Why did I write the book?  Because it was incredibly hard for me to stop smoking.  I tried to quit like 5 times.  Failed miserably.  When I finally figured it out it was like getting hit by a bolt of lightning and I wanted to share it with as many people as possibly.

It is possible to stop and to stop cold turkey and succeed.  It starts with having the right attitude and mindset and it also start when you stop looking for the easy way to quit.  There's no short cut, there's no magic pill, no quick fix.

So when I see headlines like this that just confuse the would be non-smokers it drives me nuts.  If you smoke you are struggling with multiple addictions but the big one, the one that's keeping you stuck is the nicotine addiction.  The sooner you get off that and rid your body's dependence on it the better.  E-cigarettes ultimately will not cure your addiction to nicotine.  YOU will cure your addiction.  On your own.  The power of your thoughts is more powerful than you give credit.  Take back your power.  Stop today.

Need help with that?  No Problem...  go to www.StopDontQuit.com for the real and final solution

e-Cigarettes: What is the deal? (spoken in Seinfeld voice)

Searching e-cigarettes on Twitter will surely do one very specific thing.  Confuse the crap out of you!  Look at this picture.  Huffington Post says the vapor juice can increase your chances of getting a really hard to beat staph infection while Reuters says it's a great way to quit.  Both of these should fall under the hashtag WTF.  Allow me to weigh in on this one.  Forget all you think you know about the e-cigarette for a second and let's put some attention on traditional cigarettes; you know the one's with actual tobacco.  Habitual and consistent smoking of tobacco cigarettes will lead to an early death.  Period.  Usually the early death comes with severe pain and suffering as well.  Sure, someone's Grandmother smoked and lived to be 82 and her heart stopped one night while she slept.  Consider this.  How long would she have gone if she hadn't smoked first of all and secondly, YOU are not that woman.  Those lucky few are exceptions to the rule and we seek them out to provide us comfort and to avoid the reality that continuing this habit will lead us to an early grave.

Contemplating our own mortality is never easy.  We tend to create a mindset where we don't have to look it square in the eye.  Look at the marketing done by cigarette companies from the get go.  They were glamorous and showed people living.  Celebrities endorsed them, movies used them, doctors and opera singers were paid to recommend certain brands, tobacco companies gave cigarettes to the troops during both world wars.  Nothing about their advertising speaks of an early death wrought with pain and disease.  Rather, tobacco companies put up images like the Marlboro Man and Virginia Slims show progressive women.  They want you to feel ALIVE when you smoke, not setting yourself up for a bad exit.  Following me so far?

Now, what is happening right now in the world of the electronic cigarette?  The call it an e-cigarette.  Makes it sound totally harmless.  Like e-mail or e-commerce.  And now, you don't smoke an e-cigarette, you vape.  Because it's just vapor.  Right?  Harmless.  Right?  Sure...  I guess.  And that's the problem isn't it?  We're guessing for now...  just like 100 years ago.  What else is similar?  Celebrity endorsements?  Freedom themed marketing?  A healthy alternative?

At the end of the day, either way, you're rolling the dice.  At the end of the day you still wind up addicted to nicotine.  When the smoke settles (pun intended) you must recognize that every time you light up, electronic or otherwise you are handing over control of your mood, decisions, finances and life to a chemical that is lethal at 30-60 mg in humans, weakens the immune system, elevates blood pressure, messes with your hormones, all kinds of stuff, so while you're not dealing with the tar and smoke from tobacco, you're really just exchanging one set of complications from your addiction for another and yes, you're still addicted.  The downside of addiction is for another blog altogether, but nicotine is not good for you no matter how you chose to deliver it to yourself.  And you deserve total freedom from it.

While e-cigarettes may make it a little easier to stop smoking tobacco cigarettes and some studies show a moderate advantage over the patch and gum, do you really believe these people want you to quit?  Really?  They are all drug dealers.  Every one of them.

Nicotine Yield Up 15% Makes Cigarettes Now More Addictive Then Ever

Big Tobacco is doing everything possible to protect it's revenue and keep it's client base coming back for more.  Or at least until they die.  Which is why it's so important to hook people as fast as possible and as young as possible.

In a study done by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, researchers found a significant increase in the amount of nicotine yielded per cigarette between 1998 and 2012.

There was a 15% increase, from 1.65 mg in 1999 to 1.89 mg in 2011. Though the amount of nicotine in each cigarette has remained unchanged,  the actual nicotine yield  has changed. This means that the amount of nicotine in the smoke, which is also inhaled, has gone up, making each cigarette more potent and habit forming than ever before.

Researchers also note that Big Tobacco has most likely altered the design of cigarettes to make them more efficient in delivering nicotine to a smoker's lungs, thus making them more addictive. (Nicotine, mind you, has been shown to be as addictive as cocaine and heroin.)

The tobacco industry would have us believe that the changes in nicotine yield is due to "agricultural fluctuations."  (What ever the #$%* that means!)  

Researchers consider these design tactics by the cigarette manufacturers especially concerning in light of major tobacco companies’ recent purchase of e-cigarette companies. E-cigarettes are unregulated and their nicotine content is untested and vulnerable to manipulation.

“Nicotine yield and yield-to-content ratio are factors controlled by the manufacturers,” said Wenjun Li, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine. “Therefore it is important for the government to keep its eye on the design features of cigarettes, to make sure that cigarettes and other products that contain nicotine are not being made more addictive.”

Cigarettes, traditional or electronic are delivery devices for nicotine.  Nicotine by itself is a lethal at 30-60 mg.  It is highly addictive, increases heart rate and blood pressure, has negative effects on memory and cognition, and can constrict coronary arteries, to name a few side effects.  While nicotine in and of itself is not as dangerous as cigarette smoke, it is still carcinogenic and carries it's own health risks and concerns.

You're better off without it in any form.  Especially when the main producers of it are constantly looking at more efficient ways to get and keep you hooked.  Pimps and drugs dealers is all they are.  Do not allow yourself to be Big Tobacco's little bitch.

Woman dies from burns suffered during cigarette-smoking accident

Stop Smoking Penn State!  A Monroe County, Pennsylvania woman died Monday 12/23 from burns suffered from smoking a cigarette while using oxygen.  The Lehigh County Coroner's office said it took her more than two weeks to succumb to her injuries.

Carol Hanna, 51, of East Stroudsburg, was pronounced dead at 7:40 a.m. Monday at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.  The Coroner Scott Grim said that he ruled the cause of death as complications from burn injuries and ruled the manner of death an accident.

Hanna was burned on Dec. 6 inside her home on East Brown Street, Grim said.

Lesson is obvious and heartfelt as Carol very well could be someone's mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.  It is also a sad and tragic loss.

I will go out on a limb here and assume that if she was on oxygen, she was already suffering from a smoking related illness and yet still unable to stop.  How powerful is nicotine and it's addiction?  People willingly put their lives in danger on multiple levels.  First, there's the cancer and emphysema but now once you have that you continue to smoke?  This is no different that heroin or alcoholism.

There is the possibility of reclaiming control though.  It is a struggle but people do it and survive.  They go on to live a much longer fruitful life.

If you smoke, stop now.  You are robbing yourself and your family of precious time on this planet.  If you have a loved one like Carol.  Help them to stop.  All death related to smoking is tragic.  Tragedy by definition is always avoidable, meaning, it didn't have to happen that way.  Choose life and help others do the same.  No one needs to suffer that way.  Ever.

Name this drug for a chance to win real freedom

This drug has mood-altering effects.  In particular it is both a stimulant and a relaxant.  First it causes a release of glucose from the liver and epinephrine (think adrenaline), which causes stimulation. Users will have feelings of relaxation, sharpness, calmness, and alertness.  This drug can also reduce the appetite and boost the metabolism.  This drug can pass the blood brain barrier within seven seconds of ingestion and immediately stimulates the release of many chemical messengers such as acetylcholine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, vasopressin, histamine, arginine, serotonin, dopamine, autocrine agents, and beta-endorphin.  This release of neurotransmitters and hormones is responsible for most of this drug's effects. This drug can enhance concentration and memory due to the increase of acetylcholine. It also appears to enhance alertness due to the increases of acetylcholine and norepinephrine. Arousal is increased by the increase of norepinephrine. Pain is reduced by the increases of acetylcholine and beta-endorphin. Anxiety is reduced by the increase of beta-endorphin. This drug also extends the duration of positive effects of dopamine and increases sensitivity in the brain's reward systems.  These effects can be seen in doses of only 1 to 3 milligrams.

Lorillard Buys blu ecigs (Jeffrey Wigand Was Right All Along)

In April of 2012, Lorillard Tobacco Co., the maker of Newport, sets out to secure it's revenue.  Not that there's anything wrong with that!  But as menthol cigarettes are facing scrutiny by the FDA and may soon be eliminated all together, the third largest tobacco company is looking for their own nicotine replacement therapy in blu ecigs.

Remember the Insider with Russell Crow and Al Pacino?  "A delivery device for nicotine.  Put it in your mouth, light it up and you're gonna get your fix."

So while this is from a movie, based on the experience of Jeffrey Wigand, this is the general feeling inside big tobacco and as I've mentioned before, the clear cut example of why there is no real difference between big tobacco and a man like Pablo Escobar.

But Dave, Big Tobacco doesn't go around killing people....

You sure?

How many deaths annually from tobacco related illness?  Consider chew, dip, cigars, then cigarettes.  The number is massive and way larger than any Mexican Cartel 's activity.

Don't get me wrong here, I think tobacco should remain legal, along with alcohol and I support Peter Tosh on the "marry-ju-wanna" deal.  People should have the right to use any of these products as little or as much as they want.  They also have a right to make an educated decision on how those product will effect their body and mind.

And while the ecig is not as blatantly harmful as a traditional cigarette, it does not mean it will be without consequence.   Remember it wasn't too long ago doctors recommended cigarettes, so before you go puffing away on "harmless water vapor" remember, there may be more to it than that.

Remember that ultimately, you are choosing to feed the hunger of an addiction.  Gotta get your fix, one way or another.  And if you are transitioning off of cigarettes with the ecig, keep in mind, you are only prolonging the inevitable, which is a one-on-one battle with a highly addictive and toxic chemical known as nicotine.

When that day comes you have to get your head right to face this tough opponent and win.  Fortunately, there's a book that will help you get your head right to kick the habit once and for all and for good!  You can get a copy and more information on the book at my website, www.StopDontQuit.com where you'll find out how to stop smoking without having to quit!