Doctors need to reexamine their prejudices where smoking products are concerned. Many health professionals tend to think either smoking is a will power problem and smokers don't care enough to change. While smoking is the cause of disease, it is often also the result of underlying depression or anxiety or biochemical makeup in the brain. For these people, nicotine makes you feel good. Smokers generally have a reason for wanting to smoke.

What is really surprising is how many health professionals will criticize patients like me for using nicotine substitutes like Nicorette. They seem to confuse the risk from smoking (very high) with the risk from nicotine (closer to the risk from caffeine). A little of it is self-righteousness, but I think most of it is that many doctors and nurses just don't know or keep track of new research.