Definitive Cure for Tobacco Addiction Found
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| "Ta-da! We've also quit tobacco and successfully stopped smoking with the help of TABAC!" Photo: Tatiana Vychegzhanina, Ukraine, on Colourbox. |
For centuries, the tobacco industry has been the supplier of this short-term soothing product for this ailment. But alas, the remedy has never had a permanent effect. The patient has had to continuously consume this medicine to feel well once they started – it is a remedy that creates addiction without solving the real problem, as the patient have to continue taking this remedy hour after hour, day after day, year after year. Researchers within the tobacco industry have been aware of this for decades. In the long run, it becomes expensive for the individual, who must sacrifice other of life's pleasures that non-smokers enjoy, just to get their frequent fix.
But now, these tobacco researchers have finally succeeded in finding a cure for nervousness, anxiety, and emotional turmoil that is permanent – making smoking unnecessary in the future, and the treatment even lasts relatively short.
Thus, the industry breaks with its previous strategy of providing soothing remedies on a lifelong basis – remedies that only have a short duration of effect – 15 minutes – in favor of a relatively cheap and permanent solution. This can be a benefit to society.
In Denmark, 13,600 people die annually from diseases related to smoking – that is one-fifth of a generation. And not only that, smoking and its related diseases also mean that the patients' quality of life in the last 10 years of their life is severely impaired with numerous visits to the healthcare system.
The Danish Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke expresses, "I am deeply grateful for this groundbreaking initiative from the tobacco industry for the benefit of tobacco-sick Danes."
He believes that – in addition to increasing public health – it can lead to a reduction in the tax-burdened Danes' contribution to regional healthcare. On the other hand, Minister of Finance Jeppe Bruus is sad that it means a loss of tax revenue for the state. But the Ministry of Finance's number crunchers have calculated that – all in all – it is still an advantage for the state and thus the taxpayers, for what is lost on the swings is gained multiple times on the roundabouts.
Jack Bowles, CEO of the tobacco company British American Tobacco (BAT), which in 2008 took over Danish House of Prince's tobacco production on Tobaksvej in Søborg, and is known for producing the well-known and among smokers beloved cigarette brands
- Prince
- Cecil
- LOOK
- Kings
- Savoy
- Queen's
- North State
- Mistral
- Scotsman
- Viking
- Rocky Mountains
- Pall Mall (formerly Corner)
- LA
- Slim Agenda
stated at a press conference that "It is a paradigm shift within our industry. We will no longer let greed and shareholder value be our sole values. For us, the new business model is to take the true interests of the individual deeply seriously and, yes, with love, compassion, and wisdom help them to not only a tobacco-free life but also better physical as well as mental well-being. It is now part of our new mission statement, which has been adopted with a large majority of shareholders at the recently held annual meeting (AGM) of the company."
However, from other parts of the international tobacco industry, there are critical voices opposing the new paradigm, which for many seems too radical and far-reaching and also an abrupt deviation from the previous business model, which aims to make money from a chronic disease for which only a slightly soothing remedy is produced, but never a cure. Thus, one can continue to sell the remedy because it does not have a lasting effect. It is, in a way, a dummy. Smoking tobacco has been what in marketing language is called a "cash cow" – a product that provides high and continuous revenue – and thus shareholder value, which is what many company leaders and boards are judged on by their shareholders.
For many investors, so far, shareholder value has been an extremely important concept, more important than social responsibility and accountability. The new and groundbreaking thing is to balance all these values in an appropriate mix, so money is still made but without making the planet uninhabitable.
Tobacco companies and growers worldwide fear falling revenues and plummeting stock prices if this paradigm becomes more widespread – "Imagine if governments around the world want to offer the new treatment to their citizens – it could have catastrophic and lethal consequences for the entire tobacco industry," says a spokesman for the International Tobacco Growers' Association (ITGA).
BAT, supported by their research results, is in full swing expanding their new business model and concept by establishing what will become a nationwide treatment chain called TABAC based on the franchise principle. TABAC is the company's abbreviation for Treatment and Abandonment of Bad Attitude Centre.
The company has been very secretive about what kind of treatment the centers actually offer, but according to a reliable source who wishes to remain anonymous, it is said that the cure for smoking includes, among other things, reorientation, finding a new direction, meaning, and mission in life.
Post scriptum
Background story: At a writing course, we were encouraged to write not only true, spiritual, documentary texts but also fictional, literary, spiritual stories, articles, and works. This is therefore a story written to practice writing a (fictional) story in a journalistic style in administrative language/power language. It is written in a style that has occasionally been seen on the Danish online medium www.rokokoposten.dk, and which may be termed "reverse satire."
Reverse satire is about a topic, value, or action that is normally considered common and good in society – at least in earlier times – but which in today's everyday practice has become quite uncommon and rare. Therefore, the article appears satirical in relation to the prevailing attitude of the time.
The article was posted on Facebook on April 1, 2022 – in the hope that it not always will be an April Fool's joke.
Basis of the Story – "The Insider"
In 1999, an American film, "The Insider" was released. It is a dramatization of the story of a head of a chemical research department within Big Tobacco, who reluctantly agreed to speak as a whistleblower from the tobacco industry – even though he had a so-called non-disclosure agreement. He was not allowed to disclose the knowledge he had gained in the company.
In a broadcast in the renowned quality journalistic program series 60 Minutes, which was supposed to have been aired on the American TV channel CBS in 1994, he was interviewed about the tobacco industry's deliberate work in laboratories to enhance smokers' tobacco addiction through additives. The purpose of the research work was, among other things, to strengthen the smokers' craving and thus ensure the company a steady future income.
The seven CEO's of the major tobacco companies in the United States (in the movie called "the seven dwarfs") had deliberately lied at a congressional hearing shown live on TV about these matters and presented the well-known viewpoint that "there is no scientifically proven link between smoking and lung cancer" – despite the fact that the companies actually had investigated it themselves and found a connection.
The whistleblower in the film calls cigarettes "a delivery device for nicotine."
You can watch a trailer for the film below.
Note: The video clips below are in English. Do you want them in your own language? You can enable simultaneous speech translation to written English subtitles. Via the gear ⚙️ in the player, you can also choose automatic simultaneous translation of the English subtitles into your own language. Additionally, you can make the subtitles larger, change the color, etc.
Director: Michael Mann.
Cast: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe, Christopher Plummer, Diana Venora, Philip Baker.
Synopsis: Based on the true story of a CBS 60 Minutes episode in 1994 about the tobacco industry's dishonesty and negligence, which was nevertheless not aired because CBS's new potential owner, Westinghouse allegedly opposed it. Al Pacino plays a producer at 60 Minutes, and Russell Crowe plays the whistleblower in the film.
Watch it: You can watch the entire film with the option for subtitles in Danish, and several other languages on YouTube here. If the link doesn't work, click here to find the movie.
In 1996, CBS aired this 30-minute broadcast on 60 Minutes about the whistleblower, who was subjected to character assassination by the tobacco companies.My Personal Smoking History
The author of this article has himself had to endure smoking from a family member throughout his childhood and youth. When asked, "Do you smoke?" he would answer, "Yes, I have been a passive smoker most of my life." But he has never been an active smoker at any time.
Later in life, he witnessed most people in his social circles quit smoking, and now there are very few smokers left.
In 2007, the Danish Gladsaxe Municipality, where he lives, decided to ban indoor smoking in the municipality's facilities such as sports halls, libraries, and daycare centers.
In 2015, Gladsaxe Municipality became one of the first municipalities in Denmark to introduce smoke-free working hours for employees, and from 2017, smoke-free school hours were introduced as well.
In early 2020, Gladsaxe took it a step further with smoke-free playgrounds, making an additional effort to create more smoke-free environments where children and young people are present. The aim of the initiative is to prevent children and young people from being inspired to smoke and to send a clear signal that children's play should take place in a smoke-free environment. Parents and others are therefore no longer allowed to smoke on municipally owned playgrounds. The municipality encourages private playgrounds to follow suit.
Facts about Smoking in 2020 in Denmark
Every day, 40 children and young people start smoking.
Among 16-19-year-olds, 24 percent smoke daily or occasionally – in 2013, it was 22 percent.
Most smokers started smoking before they turned 18.
17 percent of Danes smoke daily, 6 percent smoke occasionally.
7 out of 10 smokers would not smoke if they had to live their lives over.
Every year, about 13,000 Danes die due to tobacco.
One in four deaths in Denmark is due to smoking.
A new study from the Danish Health Authority documents that more than one in four in the age group 15-29 years daily or occasionally use a tobacco or nicotine-containing product such as cigarettes, e-cigarettes, or snuff.
Source: Danish Health Authority
Lars Laursen, author.
The original blogpost in Danish was published here.
Sources
Store Danske Leksikon (The Great Danish Encyclopedia): What are cigarettes?
DR News July 15, 2000: USA: Huge compensation to smokers. The companies were sentenced to pay $145 billion in compensation to 500,000 smokers in Florida.
Berlingske July 19, 2005: United States appeals tobacco verdict. The US Department of Justice appeals a verdict that has prevented authorities from claiming $280 billion from tobacco companies.
Berlingske August 18, 2006: US court: Tobacco industry kept quiet about smoking dangers. A federal court in the United States has ruled that tobacco producers were part of a conspiracy for decades to hide the dangers of smoking.
BT May 22, 2009: Tobacco companies cheat with "light". The U.S. Courts of Appeals says the tobacco industry has lied for years to smokers, and they must remove the word "light" from cigarette packs.
Kristeligt Dagblad July 3, 2019: Philip Morris: It is very good that cigarette sales are falling – but we can do more. According to new figures from Statistics Denmark, 2018 saw the lowest number of cigarettes sold in Denmark since 1961.
Dagens Medicin April 29, 2021: Boundless hypocrisy when Philip Morris shows concern for 'the poor smokers'.
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