Nicotine patches, gum, and vapes can help satisfy some cravings, but they can’t replace the rituals of having a cigarette: retreating outside with a co-conspirator, shrinking cellophane and foil as you buy a new one. Open the pack, the narcotic the buzz of that first drag.
Bruce Holladay, 69, a retired teacher from Mill Valley, Calif., knows all too well the power of nicotine. Over the past five decades, Mr. Holladay admits he has tried to quit 100 times, often relying on nicotine replacement products. But he’s forever returned to his lifelong, pack-a-day affair with the Marlboro Lights.
His last attempt in August, a cold turkey gamble without nicotine replacement therapy, triggered an excruciating maelstrom of cravings that lasted several months. “It was like a sudden earthquake of desire and need, and then there would be these tremors for the next 10 to 15 minutes,” he said.
But this time, Mr. Holladay joined a support group at Stanford Health Care, which offered a powerful social component to his quest. He described Impact as “not wanting to disappoint the team” and said he learned to avoid stressful situations, such as watching the news. They found that if they could withstand the initial waves of craving, they always subsided.
At the end of June, he passed the one-year mark since taking his last drag.
He gained weight but no longer goes hiking easily. And he is confident that he will never go back to smoking.
Asked about the possibility of drastic government intervention to force Americans to leave, Holladay paused and thought about the first puff he took half a century ago as a college freshman. “Without that nicotine rush, I probably would have gone and never smoked again,” he said. “It will be tough for smokers, but it’s a good thing to do everything we can to prevent the new generation from becoming addicted.”
Robert Chiarito contributed reporting from Chicago.
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