Slashdot Mirror
Anti-Smoking Vaccine Is Nearing the Market
eldavojohn writes "Almost 6 years ago we discussed a vaccine to help people quit smoking as it entered human clinical trials. Now it looks like the finishing touches have been put on a deal that will go into effect once phase III testing of the drug now called NicVAX is completed. NicVAX was developed by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, who have agreed to license it to GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals; it is expected to complete phase III testing successfully. Others have fallen short of this goal, in pursuit of a smoking-cessation market expected to hit $4.6 billion worldwide by 2016. Nabi has also sold an experimental vaccine for staph infections; and in 2008 we discussed news of a cocaine vaccine."
Not sure why it reminds me of this movie .. :)
Willpower, either you own the cigarettes, or they own you.
Step 4, Anti-Smoking Vaccine ...
Step 5, Profit!
Step 8, Anti(Anti-Smoking) Vaccine
Step 9, Profit!
What's more, there are no side effects
Clearly you've never been addicted to something. Like, ADDICTED addicted, in the sense that your body physically feels different when you try to ween it off.
Don't get me wrong, I think you are right, that quitting is more about a person being disciplined and wanting to quit more than anything else, but to say that you won't feel anything when trying to quit is inaccurate.
Yes, you will get the shivers, and you will get the sweats, and you might even get the shakes. But you gotta fight through that shit.
To me, it sounds more like the story of Equilibrium...
Palm trees and 8
*gives Kratisto nightly heroin injections for a few weeks just to see what happens*
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
It's not an either-or. If you own cigarettes, then they own you.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Another useful word lost: "vaccine".
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
Indeed.
I was a heavy smoker; three packs a day, and I rolled my own (so no filter to douse any of the carcinogenic goodness!) I never thought I'd quit, and really didn't want to. Then, almost nine years ago to the day, I came down with a horribly bad lung infection coupled with probably the single worst ear infection ever. I remember walking up the stairs to the second floor of my apartment would literally take about ten minutes to recover from. I realized at that moment that, while I'd probably get over this one (I was about 28 years old at the time), and I'd get over the next one, and so on, but eventually, sometime in the next fifteen to twenty years my lungs were going to be so fucked up that I'd be stuck with emphysema, probably congestive heart failure and ultimately dying by drowning in my own fluids, and that was if I was lucky, because I could also get lung cancer, and the process would be all the worse.
I threw out my tobacco, left my wallet at home when I went to work so that even if I caved in, I'd have to go out like a bumb on to the street to beg for a smoke. I ate carrots like I was a rabbit with an OCD, just so I had something to do with my mouth. The first week I was still so sick that I couldn't tell withdrawal from everything else that was wrong with me. The second week, it was tough, I was irritable and my mouth seemed to be constantly salivating. The third week it was a little better, and after a month the nic fits were coming only a couple of times a day. I called myself done after a year, and have never picked up a cigarette since.
It was tough at times, but I'm proud of myself that I didn't run to the doctor, stick a patch on, chew nicotine gum or do anything to try to wean myself. I quit cold turkey and never looked back.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Like H1N1 vaccines, this anti-smoking vaccine will help eradicate anti-smoking once and for all, along with all the ill effects it's caused. People will be able to stop worrying about anti-smoking when around other people.
(Brought to you by the people who brought you cooler temperatures, larger sizes, wider width shoes, and cheaper price tags.)
So, this new vaccine... Does it come in a smokable version?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
While willpower alone could and should make someone stop smoking, unfortunately not everyone is able to muster that willpower. There are a wide range of reasons people have trouble quitting (on top of the fact it's physically addictive), maybe they have smoked to a long long time or they are very stressed. I'm sure many of these people know it's bad for them and many smokers I've talked to say they want to quit but just can't. I think this vaccine is a brilliant step forward and it will give many life long smokers a second chance to quit. I'm sure there are many people to really have tried everything to quit and hopefully this vaccine will be the last thing they have to try.
Well of course nicotine is going to be the hardest drug to kick. Its A) Available, you don't have to go to some shady part of town to buy it, you find it easily enough in every single gas station, grocery store, etc. B) It is socially acceptable C) It is cheap
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
I do not know, I am really not a doctor. My point was that people can use tobacco without developing a dependence on it, that's all.
I would be interested in finding out if people with a dependence on both alcohol and tobacco would really be helped by this "vaccine" -- maybe taking the joy out of tobacco could lead to people consuming even more alcohol.
Palm trees and 8
If you're story is true, then this guy already had one foot through the Loony Tooney Mad House before he quit smoking. He should have been seeing a shrink and being monitored. Suffice it to say, most people ain't going to blow their brains out because they quit smoking, and those that do were nuts to begin with. This is like blaming Judas Priest for some dumb-ass kids' suicide pact.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
As a former 2 pack a day smoker who thought "I can quit anytime" I'll tell you its not quite as easy as all that, it took a few times (as in 5 or 6) trying to quit to actually quit. In the end I found Chantix helped me quite a bit to kick the habit, for those that are curious I smoked heavily for about 12 years.
What if you don't need to but like too?
I don't need to have diet pepsi, but I like it.
Having a couple smokes after a long night is no big deal. Unless you live in a bubble you are getting far worse from daily exposure to car exhaust.
This has me worrying about "vaccines" for other drugs. In a century, maybe nobody in the USA will be able to relax with $drug_of_choice, because of mandatory "vaccination" against the effects of any psychoactives.
Palm trees and 8
You're probably correct. It isn't hard to imagine a world where $drug_of_choice will no longer be effective for self-medication, and only prescribed pharmaceuticals will still work, because only those will be left outside of what the vaccine targets.
Although the vaccine does not reduce the cravings or withdrawal symptoms of quitting, it will reduce the rewarding effects of smoking. It is designed to curb the "high" smokers feel when they light up.
People needing release will always find something.
In some contries around the world alcohol is not allowed.
If you think that means they have no recreational drugs (legal ones as like alcohol) then you are very naive.
The only solution to addiction is to make people happy and contented. No one seems to be interested in this. there is no money in it.\
+----------------- | What is the question!
Unfortunately, this new vaccine is highly addictive. Not to worry though, they are hard at work on a cure for vaccine addiction. It is passed into the bloodstream through the lungs...
I was 1/2 to 1 pack a day for 13 years - then the day before my 26'th birth day i realized that 1 more day and i would have smoked for 1/2 my life and at that point i was a smoker never a non smoker.
looked at the one in my hand - dropped it through the pack i had away and that was it.
Sure i had cravings - i chewed tooth picks for weeks - some times i miss the flavor but to be honest i can't even stand the smell of it any more if i'm around smokers.
Congrats for quiting - and while i'm glad i quit - i'd never be a zealot to go and tell smokers they need to quit, it's a personal thing - but quitting is defiantly a mind over matter thing
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
Rough going, huh? For me, it's quiet the opposite.
I've been smoking for over 20 years, and on occasion I get the urge to quit. The reason has to do with the habit itself. Any habit taken to the extreme or adopted for far too long tends to get less enjoyable as time passes.
When, I do quit, it's typically for a few weeks or maybe a few months at a time. No real withdrawl, except for the day or two, of course. By the end of that period, I come to the same conclusions. Namely, that the "benefits" of smoking (enhanced concentration, relaxation, creativity, etc.) are gone and I want them back. Not need them, but want them. Life, I think, is a bit too ordinary without a vice.
Say what you will about the dangers of smoking, it has its rewards. Besides, what else to do when having a drink, after sex, or when you need to ponder a big idea? And no, nicotine in drug form (as a safer alternative) isn't the answer any more than taking caffeine pills is a substitute for enjoy a coffee. With a cigarette of course. ;-)
As a side note, all cigarettes sold in the US and EU are now required to "fire-safe". That's an oxymoronic term for "they're doused with a chemical to retard burning and prevent fires". The result is a cigarette that doesn't burn properly and tastes like shit. If I do ever quit, it'll be because I've taken up cigars and Scotch.
My vaccine for both tobacco addiction and alcoholism was marijuana. True story.
I started smoking when I was 16, and have been trying to quit ever since.. Once going over a year, only to return, though smoking less. At 24 I tried the patch and gum to no great effect. At 30 I vowed never to buy another pack, and I haven't in 3 years, however I still bum them from friends..
I just can't seem to ever quit entirely, and the idea of a vaccine that would finally let me kick the habit is one I happily welcome.
Live EVERY week... Like it's Shark Week
The only reason why this is necessary is because a compound that already exists is illegal and not profitable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibogaine
Quitting smoking was the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. All 5 times. Quit cold turkey, nicorette, patch, nicorette again, and then hypnosis.
It finally stuck. 8 years quit now. But it was effing tough each time. Including the hypnosis.
If the world hadn't turned so anti smoking in the 8 years since I quit, I wouldn't be surprised if I had relapsed. The fact that I can go out to eat or to a bar or even to work and not have smokers in my face all the time helps.
That and having a kid. Certainly motivates you to keep the quittin' up.
Thus it became trivial to bum a smoke, whenever. It became habitual, and eventually I was buying my own packs of tobacco, rolling papers and filters. I enjoyed it, to be certain, but I didn't really let myself smoke more than two or three cigarettes a day because I knew it has deleterious health effects. It took a while for me to notice any physical effects, and I attribute this to having been working on losing weight and so regularly exercising and taking care of myself very well. It also took a while before I noticed that I... well, kinda always smelled like smoke.
And so, around the same time we both decided we wanted to cut down on smoking or maybe quit. After cutting down some, my roommate stumbled upon enough information about e-cigarettes to intrigue her into buying a starter kit. It came in the mail shortly after the order (the good retailers of these things ship fast) and it was quite exciting to be there when she opened up the package and put it together!
The first thing we noticed trying it out is that it is not terribly similar to cigarette smoke other than the superficial. Yeah, the e-cigarette generates heat as you inhale, but the vaporization point of the "smoke juice" (propylene glycol, nicotine, flavors and preservatives) is sufficiently lower than the heat of burning tobacco that you notice the difference. It is slightly acrid feeling/tasting compared to smoky and tar-laden. Replacing the taste of tobacco you have a huge variety of flavors: espresso, menthol, chocolate, black cherry, applice cider, green tea with honey and even classic tobacco flavors if that's what you really enjoy!
The acrid nature of the vapor from an e-cig is truly only something I noticed at first; like an acquired taste, eventually I learned the nuanced characteristics of the e-cig vapor and I found it much more pleasant than even hookah smoke. It didn't leave any odors or was even detectable from more than a couple feet away indoors! The nicotine is there at whatever strength you specify and so there is that satisfying buzz. After long we were both exclusively e-cig smokers due to how truly delightful it is compared to tobacco. We'll both enjoy the occasional actual smoke, her moreso than I, but it's not even approaching habitual.
I don't see the point of this "vaccine" because I don't think that nicotine is in and of itself all that harmful. It's enjoyable to smoke for many people, and similarly is it enjoyable to vaporize some smoke juice in your miniature fog machine! I suggest to anyone looking to quit smoking to try this alternative. The particular kit I enjoy is the Joye 510 (purchased from e-SmokeyTreats who have great prices [especially with the purchase code "save10"] and fast shipping), and the other fine mini e-cig my friends enjoy is the DSE 901. (The primary differences you'll find are in style of mechanism, whether activated by inhaling or by a button.)
Brian Fundakowski Feldman
Kind of reminds me of a friend of mine's first foray into quitting smoking. He declared that he was only going to smoke when he was drinking. He did very well with that...the only problem was he ended up getting drunk twice a day.
You're obviously not a nonsmoker yet. You're still maintaining interest in the cigarettes you own. People quitting often suffer a relapse around two months after quitting because they feel invulnerable and cigarettes are still around. You're going to end up smoking those fuckers in four more weeks. Get them out your freezer, and throw them out of your house. Toss them into a dumpster without opening the pack. And tell all your Facebook friends to promise to never let you have one of theirs.
I don't know, I think your "just slightly" is more like a "barely". I do not use illegal drugs and have not for a good number of years. I know that tonight I could certainly get Marijuana, Cocaine, Crack, MDMA, Pharmacy grade methamphetamine (Adderall), any number of different types of pharmaceutical opiates (Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycontin..), and possibly Ketamine. Most of these I could obtain at one of several small suburban bars....hardly a seedy area. Maybe I just know a lot of people, maybe I just happen to know people who are into drugs, but availability does not seem to be a huge issue.
The people I knew who were addicted to drugs seemed to have more problems coming up with the money to buy them than they had difficulties finding perspective dealers. Actually, the drugs that appear the most difficult to obtain seem to be the pharmaceuticals which are actually legal in a sense.
I coach people through weight loss and smoking cessation. At the beginning I make them sign a contract that says, in part, that they understand this is a life change that will cost them their current friends and social contacts.
Few relationships can survive a life change like that. That's why it's so difficult to quit.
When you smoke or overeat, you chose friends that do the same. And you do activities that revolve around overeating or smoking.
When you quit or lose weight, you find new friends and new activities and you find that your old friends no longer are your friends. Sometimes it's just a gradual thing, but sometimes those "friends" dump loads and loads of guilt on the person trying to change their life, and do everything possible to sabotage the effort.
No. Nicotine is a stimulant and many people with ADHD use it to self medicate. It works, and it's not your body, so who the hell cares what you think.
I was already vaccinated when I was a kid. My father said, "so help me God, if you ever smoke I will kick your a$$." He meant it too.
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain