If you are a smoker and have come to the point that you want to quit smoking, you will need to put in some effort on your part, because there is no such thing that can work without your willing assistance. So, stop looking for the All New Recently Improved Super-Duper Stop Smoking Miracle Cure that 99% of smoking cessation products promise.

You will soon learn that promises made by advertisers, product manufacturers and salesmen should be taken with not just a pinch of salt but, perhaps, a handful of it. Smoking is a habit that has become a part of your system; you need to put in conscious effort to break the habit. I say, conscious effort, because there will be many times when you will revert to the old pattern unconsciously. So, you need to make the change and implement it with full awareness.
You need to know some facts about the 'magic pills'.

* Only about 3% people have been able to successfully quit cold turkey and that, too, not on their first attempt.

* Most off-the-shelf pharmaceuticals claim they can double your chances and increase them fivefold at best. So, all you achieve is a 6% to 15% success rate.

* Other newly released products are claiming nearly twenty times the effectiveness of cold turkey. However on closer investigation you will find that these numbers were gained by tracking a fully supported test group who not only got their medication for free, but were also watched over for the full term of the test phase by a team of doctors and counselors. And to top it all off, they were also paid for their efforts as well. Couldn't we all quit if someone else is willing to spend thousands of dollars and dozens of hours to help us do it? Unfortunately this option isn't available to most people so I daresay that this new and improved wonder drug will ultimately fall into the same percentages as every other pharmaceutical offering.

So the magic 100% success rate is a total myth. It is wishful thinking on the part of pharmaceutical companies that try to captivate the desperate smokers desperately trying to give up smoking without making any effort. This is not to say that smoking cessation does not help at all; it does aid sometimes. But, as the good old saying goes, God helps those who help themselves. These wonder drugs also help more if you place your faith in yourself and your ability to achieve your stop smoking goal rather than place all your bets on a pill or a patch.

I'm not talking about willpower here either. I'm talking about education and information. I'm talking about finding out what the real truths are about your smoking habit and what it really takes to rid yourself of it. But that is much too in-depth of a subject to cover in even a series of articles. That's why fully encompassing information programs have been developed - to help you meet this goal.

I encourage you to seek out all the information you can find about smoking, nicotine, quitting and the benefits of quitting. You've spent years or decades developing your smoking habit, so now spend a few days or weeks even, finding the information that will help you quit without relying on a 'magic pill' to do it for you.

The more you know, the more successful you will be. And, this is true in all aspects of life.

To your very best in future,

Darren Warmuth