Once a nicotine addiction takes hold of someone, it is often too powerful a grasp to escape, regardless of the health consequences.
It is well-documented that smokers can try multiple times to quit the habit before finally saying they are smoke-free.
In Canada, it has been more than 60 years since the federal government launched its first anti-smoking campaign and in 1976, the first National Non-Smoking Week was established — one that continues today.
As the dangers of smoking are becoming more obvious and accepted as fact, a myriad of cessation products have long since found space on the shelves of Yellowknife pharmacies.
Aaron LaBorde is the pharmacist and owner of Sutherland’s Drugs and he said over the years, products and resources designed to help people quit have multiplied and many have a place on store shelves, advertised as effective ways to ease out of the nicotine routine.
“The idea is that you transition from using cigarettes or smoking or tobacco onto these nicotine replacement products, and then you slowly taper the use of them down,” LaBorde said.
“So, there’s patches like the Nicoderm patches, gum forms, there’s lozenge forms, there is the spray, and then there is an inhaler,” he said of the many choices that appeal to a customer’s preference.
The active ingredient is still nicotine, as is contained in tobacco products, but LaBorde said the smoking cessation products do not have some of the carcinogen, or cancer-causing, properties that would be found in the tobacco products.
Prescriptions available
LaBorde said there are also prescription drugs available to help people quit - one being Champix.
“Its active ingredient is Varenicline, they work differently,” he said of the prescription.
Varenicline does not contain nicotine and instead works by reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms, giving smoking less of an enjoyable experience.
People who have tried the over-the-counter products several times but found them not completely effective are generally those who will seek the prescription products, LaBorde added.
“The Champix is actually quite an effective medication to stop smoking. Typically, there is a three-month course (of the prescription) that a person would do,” he said of the length of time the person would be on the drug.
At the Yellowknife Co-op pharmacy, pharmacist Ken Dragon said they sell the same type of smoking cessation products on their shelves and they get a “fair number” of people wanting to buy them.
“A lot of times also in the New Year, they will have New Year’s resolutions where people are looking for those types of things,” Dragon said.
“For non-prescription items, the most popular is probably the nicotine patches still, either that or the gum.”
The patch offers the convenience of just applying it to the skin and then leaving it on all day, he said.
Often people will buy a specific type of the product through word-of-mouth from other people who have already tried the product, he noted.
“They do make lozenges now that you can suck on instead of chewing a piece of gum, and then they also make a spray that you can spray onto or under your tongue,” he said of the choice of products.
“Whenever you have a craving for a cigarette, instead of having a cigarette you use one of those items like either a piece of gum, a lozenge or the spray,” Dragon said.
In terms of the prescription choices, he said the first one on the market was Zyban which became popular, and now Champix is most often used to curb cravings.
Challenge accepted
While quitting can be a difficult process for some, LaBorde said it is not one that is insurmountable.
“I think statistics indicate that if you give it a really serious try, and you do some of the lifestyle changes, and make like a serious commitment of trying to quit, about one in four people that are using either the prescription or some of the kind of products, are tobacco-free or have stopped smoking a year after they started their therapy,” he said of the success rate.
“And that’s usually what we would consider like a goal.
“If you’re not using a prescription product or anything like nicotine replacement, or in therapy, it’s about one in eight,” he said of the reduced success rate.
While there are vapour products and accessories on the general market that offer an alternative to smoking cigarettes, legislation prohibits selling those, as well as tobacco, in a pharmacy or a store containing a pharmacy in the Northwest Territories, and therefore are not sold in such locations.
—By Jill Westerman