LONDON: Smoking has been so much part of our culture for so long that it is hard to imagine a world without it. Yet that is exactly what the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in the UK called for last week. The RCP suggested that, with a concerted effort, smoking could be eliminated within 20 years.
To achieve this, two things would have to happen, the college said. First, curbs on smoking would have to be strengthened, principally by ramping up taxes on tobacco. But second, and more important, access to nicotine in other, safer, forms has to be greatly increased.
This latter demand chimes with developments under way in the tobacco industry.
Investigations are under way into alternative ways of delivering nicotine that will satisfy the most hardened of addicts. Only the instrument of its delivery — the cigarette — is lethal. A device that delivers nicotine quickly, efficiently and safely could earn a fortune. Tobacco companies have experimented with smokeless cigarettes, nicotine sprays and other devices, without success. Smokers say the products have been unpleasant to taste, difficult to use and hard to smoke.
What is needed is a medicinal nicotine product designed not as a short-term crutch to support the quitter, but for long-term use as part of a “harm-reduction” approach.
