Sean says his wife is trying to quit too, for the sake of their children, but this die hard Flyers fan feels stuck in the penalty box. Cold turkey, nicotine gum, hypnosis all have failed him, and it's not just the cost to his health he's worried about. "That's ridiculous amounts of money to spend for something I know is gonna kill me." 

 

"Nicotine dependence is the hardest substance abuse to treat."

 

Dr. Robert Schnoll, who specializes in the treatment of nicotine dependence says there are 2 types of treatment: Behavioral therapy and medications approved by federal health officials. "Those include nicotine replacement therapies like the patch, the gum, nasal spray, lozenges, inhalers, and there's two additional non-nicotine medications. One's buproprion and the other is a more recently developed medication called varencline."

 

Also known as zyban and chantix. These medications have been in the press because of concerns about safety. "If you have friends and relatives that can be sure to monitor your reactions to these medications, the likelihood of something seriously negative happening is gonna be very low, and these medications are gonna offer you the best chance for quitting."

 

The doctor says you can dramatically increase your chance of success with one simple step join a smoking cessation program. "That can offer them formal counseling and access to medication versus trying to move it alone."

 

"There's that age-old saying, 'if I knew then what I know now, there's a lot of things I would have done differently,' but smoking would have been the main one, not to start in the first place."