Money's Better Than E-Cigs Or Nicotine Gum At Helping Smokers Quit, Says Study (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Providing free electronic cigarettes or other stop-smoking products to employees to get them to give up real cigarettes is less effective than the threat of taking away a cash reward for quitting, according to a new study that weighs the effectiveness of a variety of workplace incentive programs. The findings, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, call into question the claims by e-cigarette enthusiasts that the devices may be better than traditional quit aids at helping smokers to stop. The study is also significant because it may be the first to look at programs to get all smoking employees to quit, whether or not they've decided they want to do so. The results show that if the motivation isn't there, neither are the positive results. 9.5 percent of participants who got the free smoking cessation products plus a cash reward ($100 for the first month, an additional $200 at the three-month mark and $300 if they stayed smoke-free for six months) for staying away from tobacco quit.

Comments

I'm not convinced.

[AvitarX]

I smoked a pack a day, and ended up using a vape (a mod box, not a little stick thing which has failed me in the past) to quit.

I save far more than the money they're talking about, and actually quit.

People buy a carton at a time, $100 isn't really much more than just quitting rather than buying a carton.

Re: I'm not convinced.

[chispito]

That was my thought. If someone will quit for $600 over the course of a few months, wouldnâ(TM)t they quit, anyway? Thatâ(TM)s less than theyâ(TM)ll save by not buying cigarettes.

Well, it stands to reason that the magic number was the savings AND the bonus combined. Or the psychological effect of being given something extra if they are incapable of internalizing the long term savings alone.

Re: I'm not convinced.

[AvitarX]

I guess I'm not considering lighter smokers (and not RTFA), I could totally see the money swaying a few a pack a week smoker and I know a couple of them (I'm skeptical that they're being honest with how many they actually smoke, but that doesn't matter when calculating what they think they spend).

Also, someone that buys by the pack may not see $6/day as $180/month, so $100 up front may help.

Also, if they self report, lies/truth bending are a thing. Like, if I were to lose $300 for saying I bummed a smoke at the bar two weeks ago, I'd never admit it, but if it was to test the effectiveness of vapes, I'd be completely honest.

Lastly, I'm really skeptical they used good vapes. I tried to quit with vaping twice, on tiny lil things, the worst. But a 100w modbox with all day battery, and all day tank did the trick (don't use even close to 100w, but those are the ones with the all day battery).

Aside: I think Europe's 2ml tank law is a big mistake, it will make it much harder to step down nicotine (whenever I step down nicotine I go through tanks quickly for a few days, it's a pain, but I've done it five times and soon I'll be at zero), and even when at a nice balance, kind of be a pain. I don't see the point of 10ml bottle limits either, but actually think the required testing is OK.

Re:I'm not convinced.

[BlueStrat]

I smoked a pack a day, and ended up using a vape (a mod box, not a little stick thing which has failed me in the past) to quit.

I save far more than the money they're talking about, and actually quit.

People buy a carton at a time, $100 isn't really much more than just quitting rather than buying a carton.

I smoked ~2-1/2 packs/day for 45+ years and also quit by switching to vaping using a mod-box. Tried those little pen/stick types and ended up going back to smoking. Don't even get me started about those crappy little things the tobacco companies have been trying to push. They're horrid. and that's being generous.

I agree completely, the money they're talking about is less than the money saved from quitting. I know that even the savings combined with the cash payment TFA refers to would not have motivated me enough to quit. Now I'm 3+ years smoke-free. The best part for me is that I'm a musician in a working band and in many venues I don't have to go outside to smoke between sets, often in bitter winter cold which isn't good for a guitarist's hands.

Strat

Well to be fair a LACK of money also helps

[Anonymous Coward]

I successfully quit after losing my job and being unable to afford cigarettes

Holy Cow

[bistromath007]

Amazing new study shows people will lie for $600

The money thing works for me

[mnemotronic]

I started sucking on $100 bills when I quit. That and the sublingual Bitcoin tokens really seems to be doing the job. I initially tried smoking $2 bills but kept inhaling a super-thin piece of wire. And those holograms. Hoo-boi. Them'll do a nummer on ya.

This is part of the war on Vaping

[SuperKendall]

For whatever reason, there seem tone a lot of people who have decided vaping is really bad, and are trying to kill it, so I see this article as another arm of that effort.

I personally hate smoking. Like really detest it. But vaping while I find a bit annoying, is 1000x times less annoying or horrible than real smoking.

It's also far safer, and gives people nicotine they crave without being nearly as dangerous as "real" smoking.

So don't give in to the people who are trying to kill off vaping, it is helping a LOT of people really improve their health profile.

Re:This is part of the war on Vaping

[thegarbz]

there seem tone a lot of people who have decided vaping is really bad, and are trying to kill it

Ever heard of the cigarette industry?

Re:Smoking at this point is really dumb

[war4peace]

I've been a smoker for 16 years, then a vaper for 6 more. I quit a few months ago, effortlessly, it just happened. Sold all my vaping tools and never looked back.
However, my appetite increased and I gained weight. I'll have to go see a nutritionist, because my current overall weight is well within the limits but it gathered on my belly and sides, which is not good.

People have been asking me how did I fight addictiveness. I haven't. I just reduced the amount of nicotine in the liquid until at some point I stopped adding it altogether, but continued vaping non-nicotine liquids. Then at some point I realized I was only vaping 20-30 puffs a day, down from over 120. So I shelved the device I was using and that was it, really.

Now, if someone offered me 600 dollars over 3 months to quit, I wouldn't have felt incentivized, and I'm Romanian, 600 bucks is a lot of money here.