Are there any viable shortcuts to stop smoking?

Question

A variety of treatments are purportedly available to aid in quitting smoking.

What are effective, scientifically proven ways to quit smoking? In particular, is any treatment significantly better than placebo?

Examples of smoking cessation aids for context and convenience. You don't need to double check all of them if you don't want, feel free to indicate any other you like:

Nicotine patches/gums/inhalers
Herbal cigarettes (not cannabis)
Cannabis
Hypnosis
Psychotherapy/Support groups
Getting yourself sick by smoking too much all at once
Gradually decreased number
Anti depressants

Most of the methods are documented on wikipedia, some are claims I've heard from friends or from books and movies.

This is far too much for one question. Break it into seven or nine different questions, if you want, but questioning seven different ways that might get you to stop smoking at once is too broad. — Borror0, Mar 08 '11 at 20:50
Perhaps rephrase to ask what the most scientifically proven method is? — Russell Steen, Mar 08 '11 at 21:10
@Russel I've tried to incorporate your suggestion without making the question overly broad. — Sklivvz, Mar 08 '11 at 21:19
Strong will and determination tops all that. Not scientifically proven though :) — Egle, Mar 08 '11 at 22:33

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 08 '11 at 21:25

The American Cancer Society makes the claim that stopping with drugs is significantly more effective than without. They also list several drugs which have been shown to help quitting.

They don't do a very good job of revealing where their data comes from, but I'll check more.

Are there any viable shortcuts to stop smoking?

1 Answers1

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