The Responsibility Project^®. Exploring what it means to do the right thing

So you’ve decided to quit smoking or chewing tobacco: Good for you. Your first stop may be the pharmacy to get a box of nicotine patches or gum – or both – to help with withdrawal symptoms. The bad news is, though the gum and the patch can help relieve symptoms of withdrawal temporarily, they do not increase your chance at effectively quitting. New research, published in Tobacco Control, found that those who rely on replacement therapies are just as likely to relapse as cold-turkey quitters.

Gregory Connolly, director of the Center for Global Tobacco Control at Harvard School of Public Health and the co-author of the research, told TIME Healthland’s Alice Park, “We were disappointed. We didn’t get the results we hoped we would get […] The findings say that we are pretty good at getting people to quit, but not great at getting people to stay quit.”

Park explained, “Nicotine replacement therapies aren’t smoking cessation drugs per se — they’re treatments that provide small amounts of nicotine to ease the brain and body from withdrawal from the larger hits from cigarettes.”

According to Connolly, the researchers had hoped to find conclusive evidence for the best way to quit smoking. Instead, he says, “Our study showed that Marlboro Light 100s are far more effective at inducing relapse than Nicorette gum is in preventing relapse.”

The researchers studied 787 recent quitters in Massachusetts between 2001 and 2006. The subjects checked in three times throughout the study, answering questionnaires about whether they lit up again. One third of participants relapsed at some point in each of the three survey periods. The results among those who used the patch were fairly similar to those who did not. Further, CBS notes, the relapse rate wasn’t affected by combining therapies and counseling or by the quantity of tobacco the smokers and chewers used.

What does unquestionably work, the researchers said, are societal changes such as bans on public smoking (including outdoors), as well as price and tax hikes on cigarettes. Furthermore, the researchers hope that their results will encourage the Food and Drug Administration to consider new ways to curb smoking.

Given the findings from this research, whose responsibility is it to foster an environment conducive to quitting smoking – organizations such as the Food and Drug Administration or the actual individuals trying to quit? What are your thoughts on passing laws, such as banning smoking in public areas, to bring an end to smoking and chewing tobacco? Have you or someone you know ever quit smoking? What worked?