Call for National Agencies to Implement Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking

“Any legislation designed to control tobacco use should be applied in conjunction with an effective smoking cessation programme. It is that, rather than the banishing, shaming, and taxing of poor smokers, which is most likely to set them free. Roll on the day when international governments react to the news of the proven efficacy of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminars and engage us in the planning and implementation of their smoking cessation programmes.”

Call for National Agencies to Implement Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking

Even before the release of last week’s dramatic evidence at 7th European Conference Tobacco or Health (ECTOH) in Porto, Portugal, which indicated the superiority of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminars compared to a government run programme based on the use of nicotine products such as patches and gum, it was refreshing to see Mohammed Saleem’s call, in TODAY, for national agencies to “take a leaf out of” Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method’s playbook.

Mohammed writes at length about how we have come a long way since “the 10-cent loose cigarettes available in provision shops in the 1980s and ’90s” and since the introduction of nicotine patches, raising cigarette taxes, no-smoking zones and raising the minimum age limit for purchasing cigarettes. He laments the fact that we cannot claim a conclusive victory in “this fight to stamp out smoking”.

Mohammed goes on to state, with reference to increasing the price of cigarettes through taxation “without engaging smokers in a discussion, most of these top-down approaches to eradicating this habit will not bear fruit. There is a shadow economy that is seldom addressed. While I have not travelled down this avenue, many smokers can easily buy cheap contraband cigarettes. Raising cigarette prices or the age limit of smokers means little when there is the black market.”

Mr Saleem continues “Secondly, using scare tactics to dissuade smokers seldom registers in their psyche. The health issues become tangible problems only after 20 to 30 years of smoking.

Let us engage youngsters and not merely see them as a problem. They already have a not-much-to-lose mentality, and raising the age limit to 21 now would exacerbate the forbidden fruit effect.

There must be engagement at a national level, and smokers’ voices must be heard. Perhaps national agencies can take a leaf out of Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking, which contains new yet effective ideas to overcome this habit.”

John Dicey, Worldwide CEO & Senior Therapist, Allen Carr’s Easyway comments “I have great sympathy for the sentiments that Mohammed Saleem expresses in his feature for Today. The black market being a source for counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes is a major concern and makes accurate tracking of smoker numbers and cigarette consumption extremely difficult. It was enlightening of Mohammed to call for national agencies to take a look at Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method in advance of last week’s announcement regarding the superiority of the method at 7th European Conference Tobacco or Health (ECTOH) in Porto.

International governments fear of a “consumer rush” to the black market is actually something being fuelled by Big Tobacco – who present it as one of their arguments against plans for huge tax rises on their products such as those seen in Australia in the past year or two. It will be interesting to see how successful that tactic proves to be in those markets adopting it.

Our view is that any legislation designed to control tobacco use should be applied in conjunction with a highly effective smoking cessation programme. It is that, rather than the banishing, shaming, and taxing of poor smokers, which is most likely to set them free. Roll on the day when international governments react to the news of the proven efficacy of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminars and engage us in the planning and implementation of their smoking cessation programmes”.

Read Mohammed Saleem’s feature “Top Down Approaches to Curb Smoking Won’t Bear Fruit” in Today

Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) by Irish Government Indicates Superiority of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Seminars

Read more about How to Stop Smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide CEO & Senior Therapist, Allen Carr’s Easyway

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