Book Review: ‘Cigarettes and Soviets’ Examines Social and Political Impact of Cigarettes in Former USSR

January 23, 2023 Nick Flores Admin, Archives, Reviews

Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the USSR, by Tricia Starks (Cornell University Press: Ithaca, New York, 2022)

Tricia Starks’ Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the USSR (2022) is an exploration into the evolution of a unique industry throughout the course of the former Soviet Union.

Juxtaposed against the development of the cigarette industry in the West, the evolution of tobacco within the USSR provides a looking glass into both the distinctions between the two systems and how they both similarly confronted social pressures. In the author’s words, “[the book] presents the relationship among state, production, profit, health, culture, gender, biology, use, image, and users” (p. 10).

The Cigarette Industry’s Utility in a Nascent Socialist State

Starks begins prior to the Bolshevik Revolution, in 1917, during Lenin and his comrades’ famous train ride back to the then-Russian Empire. She proceeds to move the reader through time by commissioning a theme for the periods that she covers in each chapter, including posters and photographs for reference throughout. The book concludes with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and a brief preview of the transformation of tobacco in the immediate aftermath.

The choice to focus on the tobacco industry through the paradigm of the Soviet system is an interesting case study in what distinguished their socialist system and the particular challenges they faced throughout the 20th century. In the capitalist West, and particularly in the United States, the traditional narrative on the rise of the tobacco industry is one of capitalist marketing and the explosion of consumerism as industrial modes of production expanded throughout the century. However, despite the lack of consumption-driven marketing within the newly formed Soviet republics, the demand for tobacco was tremendous. Soviets initially smoked it in the form of a coarse Russian tobacco known as makhorka or as filterless Russian cigarettes known as papirosy, only later increasing consumption of cigarettes.

Soviet Approach to Health and Cigarettes

Lenin despised the use of tobacco, going as far as to enforce designated smoking areas and issue smoking vouchers during the revolutionaries’ train ride back to Petrograd (p. 1). Following the triumph of the October Revolution, the Soviets would go on to found the first national prophylactic [preventative] healthcare system in 1918 (p. 2). Under the leadership of Nikolai Aleksandrovich Semashko, the new People’s Commissariat for Public Health (known as the Narkomzdrav) quickly acknowledged the dangers of smoking and launched the world’s first mass anti-smoking campaign, calling for both wide-reaching public education and curtailment of production and distribution. However, the conditions that the USSR’s planned economy faced presented them with a difficult choice. That was because demand for tobacco far exceeded supply coming out of the destruction of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, the industry’s unions were strong, and the revenue from its sale and export was badly needed. Thus, they decided to continue production while committing to a robust propaganda campaign to inform the public about the dangers of smoking.

The perspective that the public awareness campaigns took serves as a great example of what distinguished the Soviet approach from the West. Representative of the collectivism that guided the state, posters and resources throughout the period highlighted individuals’ responsibility to their community and the social impacts of smoking. While the extent of tobacco’s danger to physical health was far from fully understood, the socialist perspective of Soviet medical professionals led them to include the social implications of smoking in their understanding of its dangers. At a delicate time for the revolutionary project, Narkomzdrav rightfully warned smoking could not only limit one’s ability to be a productive member of society, but could also drain badly needed resources from the state. Posters highlighted how smokers caused fires in factories and in homes, polluted public and personal spaces, and influenced the next generation to take up the habit.

An Unusual Analysis of Former USSR

The focus of Cigarettes and Soviets is enticing. Starks’ avoidance of Cold War-era pseudo-history and histrionic oversimplifications, which seek to disparage the Soviet project, is particularly refreshing. Starks notes:

“The depiction of tobacco as the true opiate of the masses assumes a passive smoking population and a state in total control. The potency and popularity of papirosy prepared the Soviets to have a massive market for any tobacco they produced, and for the state to interfere in the biopsychosocial bond between smoker and tobacco held danger (p. 8).”

The first anti-smoking campaign demonstrated the question of tobacco was complex and the way Soviets chose to respond illustrates their principles. Pamphlets and other materials produced during this early period criticized alcohol and tobacco for “[endangering] order, health, and political progress” as well as “[softening] consciousness (p. 95).” Narkomzdrav looked to align their message with the Bolshevik Revolution and tap into the revolutionary energy among the people to dissuade them from smoking. However, Starks also points out the Soviets were restricted in their ability to take action by both the social conditions and the concrete benefits tobacco production provided. In 1931, Anastas Mikoian, head of the People’s Commissariat of Food Industry, “praised tobacco workers for fueling the Stalinist industrialization drive (p. 111).” Mikoian was commenting on the reality the USSR faced; industry and the economy were still developing and tobacco was in high demand, able to provide welcome satisfaction in the face of shortages of other products while the revenue it produced funded development.

In later chapters of Cigarettes and Soviets, the thoughtfulness that guides the author’s exploration of the pre-Stalin era at times fades. Starks mentions the Soviets declined aid offered through the Marshall Plan, but fails to explain that this was due to the purposefully small amount offered to a country that suffered a great deal of damage throughout World War II and that the USSR recognized the strings attached to the aid in the plan (p. 157). The analysis of later decades doesn’t provide the depth to fully understand the profound changes happening within the tobacco industry and within the USSR. For example, one of the first Western industries to break into the Soviet market was tobacco, following the lead of Marlboro owner Philip Morris’ joint venture with a Soviet tobacco factory on the topically named Soiuz-Apollon cigarettes in 1975 (p. 175). However, unlike her analysis of how the post-1921 New Economic Policy era’s policies influenced tobacco imagery and propaganda, Starks does not elaborate on the post-WWII sociopolitical developments influencing the changes.

Nonetheless, Tricia Starks’ new book, Cigarettes and Soviets: Smoking in the USSR, is enlightening and thought-provoking. The case study on the peculiar USSR tobacco industry provides an interesting window into the Soviet project, highlighting challenges the Soviet people faced and successes the Bolshevik Revolution was able to produce.

Nick Flores is a co-founder of and organizer with Bushwick, Brooklyn-based G-REBLS, a grassroots organization as well as a member organization of the Black Alliance for Peace’s Solidarity Network. Nick holds a double-major bachelor’s degree in history and Latin American studies.

Improve health of Indigenous people and culture by decolonizing tobacco, says Cree doctor

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First Nations people off reserve twice as likely to smoke as 

non-Indigenous people: Public Health Canada

Samantha Schwientek · CBC News · Posted: Mar 18, 2023 

Dr. James Makokis uses western and Indigenous medicines to treat his patients. (Submitted by James Makokis)

High rates of smoking among Indigenous people not only pose serious risks to personal health, but also culture, according to a Cree (nehiyô) doctor in Alberta. 

"The number one way that we can ensure people are healthy is to stop smoking," according to Dr. James Makokis, who is from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and works in Kehewin Cree Nation and south Edmonton. 

First Nations people off reserve are almost twice as likely to smoke as non-Indigenous people, according to Public Heath Canada. According to a 2016 report, half of First Nations men (50 per cent) and women (49 per cent) living on reserve in Ontario reported smoking daily or occasionally.

Makokis said he's seen many patients who have smoked since they were preteens and are now coping with a variety of health problems. He said communities must engage respectfully with elders about smoking. 

"The younger generation needs our elders to be living to healthy ages, to be able to transfer that knowledge around language, around culture, around spirituality, around medicines [and] around songs and ceremonies, so that when they get older they have all of the tools to ensure that continuity of knowledge into the future," he said.

Culturally appropriate services needed

Elder Doreen Spence from Saddle Lake Cree Nation said tobacco was traditionally used by Cree people in ceremony — in a sacred fire or as an offering to the earth.

"At the beginning of time we were gifted with tobacco. Tobacco is a sacred herb," Spence said. 

At age 86, she still sometimes grows the plants in small containers but she only uses the medicine for ceremonial purposes. 

Spence said tobacco has been misused and it's important to understand how and why that happened.   

Member of the Order of Canada Doreen Spence and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at Rideau Hall after Spence was given one of Canada's highest honours last fall. (Master Cpl. Anis Assari/Rideau Hall)

Traditional use of tobacco usually involves minimal inhalation, according to research from the University of Saskatchewan. 

"When we look at the instrument that we use to smoke tobacco, people in our teachings are not generally to inhale the medicine, but kind of just smoke it," Makokis said. 

But as commercial tobacco entered communities, it became confused with traditional use of tobacco, he added. 

"Within our communities there is the misperception that if you are smoking you're engaging in some form of prayer because it's a medicine," he said.

Spence agrees and said a better understanding of ceremony and Indigenous people's place in the cycle of life is essential to lowering smoking rates. 

Programs to reduce smoking

Government programs have helped to reduce smoking rates since the '70s but with Indigenous smoking rates still higher than for non-Indigenous people, Makokis said there's a need for culturally-specific programs. 

CBC News reached out to Alberta Health Services to find out what resources are available to reduce smoking among Indigenous people, but did not hear back by the time of publication. 

Tobacco and other materials for a ceremony by a Wolastoqey elder. (Myfanwy Davies/CBC)

Such programs should address tobacco use in a culturally respectful and trauma-informed way, Makokis said. That should include understanding how addiction is often connected to trauma, and Makokis highlighted specific sources of trauma, like the '60s Scoop and residential schools. 

"When we look at the tremendous amount of trauma that Indigenous peoples have experienced through colonial violence, we know that they're more predisposed to regulating their emotions… by misusing substances, whether that is alcohol or drugs," Makokis said.

Vaping also a concern

Makokis said he's also worried about young people and vaping. Like with smoking, Indigenous youth are more likely to vape than non-Indigenous youth.

A 2022 report from Statistics Canada estimated that in 2019, 31 per cent of Indigenous youth aged 15-17 had vaped in the last 30 days compared with 20 per cent of non-Indigenous youth. 

Makokis said more must be done to help reduce the rates of smoking and vaping for young people, which includes better access to cultural services and activities. 

"One of the number one protective factors for Indigenous youth in terms of preventing engaging in harmful activities is being connected with their culture, identity, language, ceremonies and spirituality," Makokis said. 

A surgeon general report once cleared the air about smoking. Is it time for one on vaping?

MIKE STOBBE
 Mon, January 15, 2024 

Vaping Health Effects
 - A health warning is seen on the packaging of a disposable vaping pod device in Washington
on Monday, June 26, 2023. Sixty years ago, the U.S. surgeon general released a report that settled
a longstanding public debate about the dangers of cigarettes and led to huge changes in smoking
in America. Some public health experts say a similar report could help clear the air about vaping.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sixty years ago, the U.S. surgeon general released a report that settled a longstanding public debate about the dangers of cigarettes and led to huge changes in smoking in America.

Today, some public health experts say a similar report could help clear the air about vaping.

Many U.S. adults believe nicotine vaping is as harmful as — or more dangerous than — cigarette smoking. That’s wrong. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and most scientists agree that, based on available evidence, electronic cigarettes are far less dangerous than traditional cigarettes.

But that doesn’t mean e-cigarettes are harmless either. And public health experts disagree about exactly how harmful, or helpful, the devices are. Clarifying information is urgently needed, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University.

“There have been so many confusing messages about vaping,” Gostin said. “A surgeon general’s report could clear that all up.”

One major obstacle: E-cigarettes haven’t been around long enough for scientists to see if vapers develop problems like lung cancer and heart disease.

“There’s a remarkable lack of evidence,” said Dr. Kelly Henning, who leads the public health program at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

SMOKING AND VAPING

Cigarette smoking has long been described as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the annual toll at 480,000 lives. That count should start to fall around 2030, according to a study published last year by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, thanks in part to a decline in smoking rates that began in the 1960s.

Back then, ashtrays were everywhere and more than 42% of U.S. adults smoked.

On Jan. 11, 1964, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry released an authoritative report that said smoking causes illness and death — and the government should do something about it. The report is considered a watershed moment: In the decades that followed, warning labels were put on cigarette packs, cigarette commercials were banned, governments raised tobacco taxes and new restrictions were placed on where people could light up.

By 2022, the adult smoking rate was 11%.

Some experts believe e-cigarettes deserve some of the credit. The devices were billed as a way to help smokers quit, and the FDA has authorized a handful of e-cigarettes as less-harmful alternatives for adult smokers.

Vaping’s popularity exploded in the 2010s, among both adults but and teens. In 2014, e-cigarettes surpassed combustible cigarettes as the tobacco product that youth used the most. By 2019, 28% of high schoolers were vaping.

U.S. health officials sounded alarms, fearing that kids hooked on nicotine would rediscover cigarettes. That hasn’t happened. Last year, the high school smoking rate was less than 2% — far lower than the 35% rate seen about 25 years ago.

“That’s a great public health triumph. It’s an almost unbelievable one,” said Kenneth Warner, who studies tobacco-control policies at the University of Michigan.

“If it weren’t for e-cigarettes, I think we would be hearing the public health community shouting at the top of their lungs about the success of getting kids not to smoke,” he said.

VAPING’S BENEFITS AND HARMS

Cigarettes have been called the deadliest consumer product ever invented. Their smoke contains thousands of chemicals, at least 69 of which can cause cancer.

The vapor from e-cigarettes has been estimated to contain far fewer chemicals, and fewer carcinogens. Some toxic substances are present in both, but show up in much lower concentrations in e-cigarette vapor than in cigarette smoke.

Studies have shown that smokers who completely switch to vaping have better lung function and see other health improvements.

“I would much rather see someone vaping than smoking a Marlboro. There is no question in my mind that vaping is safer,” said Donald Shopland, who was a clerk for the committee that generated the 1964 report and is co-author of a forthcoming book on it.

But what about the dangers to people who have never smoked?

There have been 100 to 200 studies looking at vaping, and they are a mixed bag, said Dr. Neal Benowitz, of the University of California, San Francisco, a leading academic voice on nicotine and tobacco addiction. The studies used varying techniques, and many were limited in their ability to separate the effects of vaping from former cigarettes smoking, he said.

“If you look at the research, it’s all over the map,” Warner said.

Studies have detected bronchitis symptoms and aggravation of asthma in young people who vape. Research also indicates vaping also can affect the cells that line the blood vessels and heart, leading to looks for a link to heart disease. Perhaps the most cited concern is nicotine, the stimulant that makes cigarettes and vapes addictive.

Animal studies suggest nicotine exposure in adolescents can affect development of the area of the brain responsible for attention, learning and impulse control. Some research in people suggests a link between vaping and ADHD symptoms, depression and feelings of stress. But experts say that the research is very limited and more work needs to be done.

Meanwhile, there’s not even a clear scientific consensus that vaping is an effective way to quit smoking, with different studies coming up with different conclusions.

CLEARING THE AIR

Last month, the World Health Organization raised alarms about the rapidly growing global markets for electronic cigarettes, noting they come in thousands of flavors that attract young people.

In 2016, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said efforts were needed to prevent and reduce e-cigarette use by children and young adults, saying nicotine in any form is unsafe for kids.

About four months before the report’s release, the FDA began taking steps to regulate e-cigarettes, believing they would benefit smokers.

The agency has authorized several e-cigarettes, but it has refused more than 1 million product marketing applications. Critics say the FDA has been unfair and inconsistent in regulation of products.

Meanwhile, the number of different e-cigarette devices sold in the U.S. has boomed, due largely to disposables imported from China that come in fruit and candy flavors. But vaping by youths has recently been falling: Last year, 10% of high school students surveyed said they had used e-cigarettes in the previous month, down from 14% the year before.

Why the decline? “It’s hard to say what’s working,” said Steven Kelder, a University of Texas researcher.

He mentioned a 2019 outbreak of hospitalizations and deaths among people who were vaping products with THC, the chemical that gives marijuana its high.

The illnesses were traced to a thickening agent used in black market vape cartridges, a substance not used in commercial nicotine e-cigarettes. But it may be a reason many Americans think of e-cigarettes as unsafe, Kelder said.

Sherri Mayfield, a 47-year-old postal worker, remembers the 2019 outbreak and reports of rapid illnesses and deaths in youths. Vaping “absolutely” needs to be studied more, Mayfield said last week while on a cigarette break in New York with some co-workers.

“Cigarettes aren't safe” but at least it can take them decades to destroy your health, she said.

The surgeon general's office said in a statement that the 1964 report “catalyzed a 60-year movement to address the harmful effects of smoking" and suggested similar action was needed to address youth vaping.

Murthy's website, however, currently lists neither vaping nor smoking as a priority issue.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Largest U.S. study of e-cigarettes shows their value as smoking cessation aid

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

 

IMAGE: A NEW STUDY SHOWS THERE'S A PLACE FOR E-CIGARETTES FOR ADULT SMOKERS WHO HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO QUIT, SAID MATTHEW CARPENTER, PH.D. view more 

CREDIT: EMMA VOUGHT/MUSC HOLLINGS CANCER CENTER

E-cigarettes do have value as a smoking cessation aid, according to a new study just released by a team of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center researchers.  

Whether e-cigarettes should be considered for smoking cessation is a hotly debated topic, and different countries have taken different approaches. E-cigarettes contain harmful chemicals, which has led many public health advocates to shun them. But they are less harmful than traditional cigarettes, which can cause a dozen types of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. That’s prompted others to say that e-cigarettes should be considered as a step-down method for adults who smoke and haven’t been able to quit using FDA-approved aids, like nicotine replacement gum, lozenges or patches.  

This new study, the largest trial of e-cigarettes in the U.S., showed that e-cigarette usage nudged people toward quitting smoking – even people who had entered the trial saying they had no intention of quitting. The results were published in eClinical Medicine this month.  

“This is not a panacea for smoking cessation,” cautioned Matthew Carpenter, Ph.D., first author on the paper and co-leader of the Cancer Control Research Program at Hollings.  

Nonetheless, he was surprised to find that all of the hypotheses tested in the study were confirmed.  

“It’s rarely the case that you’re proven correct for almost everything that you predicted,” he said. “Here, it was one effect after another: No matter how we looked at it, those who got the e-cigarette product demonstrated greater abstinence and reduced harm as compared to those who didn’t get it.” 

Carpenter and his colleagues, including Hollings members Tracy Smith, Ph.D., Jennifer Dahne, Ph.D., Michael Cummings, Ph.D., and Graham Warren, Ph.D., designed the study in a naturalistic way to mimic real-world conditions as much as possible – also a first for e-cigarette studies.  

Previous studies that have shown a smoking cessation benefit of e-cigarettes have been very structured, Carpenter said, in that they recruited people who wanted to stop smoking and gave them very detailed instructions about how to use the e-cigarettes.  

“Some people have said, ‘That’s fine, but the results of those studies don't apply to the real world because the real world isn’t as structured,’” he explained. “So what we did was take a hands-off approach – we called it a naturalistic approach.” 

“First off, we took smokers who did and did not want to quit. So right off the bat, not everybody wanted to quit. Secondly, we gave them very little instruction on how to use it,” he continued.  

Instead, people were given e-cigarettes and told they could use them or not, as much or as little as they wanted. A control group didn’t receive anything.  

The study showed that people in the e-cigarette group were more likely to report complete abstinence from combustible cigarettes. They were also more likely to report that they’d reduced the number of cigarettes per day that they smoked and their number of “quit attempts.” Quit attempts are an important metric because people usually need multiple tries before they can successfully stop smoking.  

The study included people from 11 cities across the U.S. and spanned four years. At the beginning, Carpenter intended to collect biochemical samples from participants in the Charleston area to verify their self-reports of smoking behavior. However, COVID interrupted that plan and made in-person sample collection impossible.  

Although that was a disappointing aspect of the study, replying on participants’ self-reports of their smoking behavior is still considered highly reliable, he said.  

The study will be another data point for the public health community and policymakers in deciding how to handle e-cigarettes. “No one wants e-cigarettes in the hands of kids, and we should do all we can to stop that. But we shouldn’t do so by denying this option for adult smokers who can’t otherwise quit,” Carpenter said. He noted that other countries have taken a much more liberal approach to e-cigarette use than the U.S.  

For example, in April the U.K. announced a “Swap to Stop” program that will distribute vaping starter kits to 1 million people who smoke. 

In the U.S., e-cigarettes are not approved as smoking cessation aids. But Carpenter and Smith have just received funding for a study that will test e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid for adult smokers who’ve already tried two different FDA-approved methods. And Benjamin Toll, Ph.D., director of the MUSC Health Tobacco Treatment Program, co-authored a commentary this month urging an education campaign for adult smokers to clarify that, while neither option is “safe,” traditional cigarettes are far more harmful than e-cigarettes.  

About  MUSC Hollings Cancer Center 

MUSC Hollings Cancer Center is South Carolina’s only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center with the largest academic-based cancer research program in the state. The cancer center comprises more than 130 faculty cancer scientists and 20 academic departments. It has an annual research funding portfolio of more than $44 million and sponsors more than 200 clinical trials across the state. Dedicated to preventing and reducing the cancer burden statewide, the Hollings Office of Community Outreach and Engagement works with community organizations to bring cancer education and prevention information to affected populations. Hollings offers state-of-the-art cancer screening, diagnostic capabilities, therapies and surgical techniques within its multidisciplinary clinics. Hollings specialists include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, psychologists and other clinical providers equipped to provide the full range of cancer care, including more than 200 clinical trials across South Carolina. For more information, visit hollingscancercenter.musc.edu. 

---

DOI

10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.102142 

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect of unguided e-cigarette provision on uptake, use, and smoking cessation among adults who smoke in the USA: a naturalistic, randomised, controlled clinical trial

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

15-Aug-2023

COI STATEMENT

KMC has served as a paid expert witness in litigation filed against the tobacco industry. KMG has provided consultation to Jazz Pharmaceuticals and has received research funding from Aelis Farma. MLG has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board to Johnson & Johnson; he has also consulted with both the World Health Organization and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids on toxicity of tobacco products and tobacco control products; MLG is also a Member of the IASLC Tobacco Control and Smoking Cessation Committee; and a leadership role with the American Association for Cancer Research. JD is a co-owner of Behavioral Activation Tech LLC, a small business that develops digital interventions for behavioral health treatment. E-cigarette products (tanks and liquids) were purchased directly from NJoy; no study support provided from industry. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Psychedelics may help people reinvent themselves

People stopped smoking by seeing themselves as nonsmokers

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

 

IMAGE: UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER NEŞE DEVENOT STUDIES PSYCHEDELICS IN UC'S INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH IN SENSING. view more 

CREDIT: ANDREW HIGLEY

Psychedelics might help people change unwanted behaviors by helping them reinvent their perceptions of themselves.

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati examined the post-treatment journals kept by participants in a 2014 smoking cessation study that found psychedelics were effective in helping some people quit smoking for years.

In a new paper published in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, researchers analyzed the participants’ own words and found that psychedelics combined with talk therapy often helped longtime smokers see themselves as nonsmokers. This new core identity might help explain why 80% of participants were able to stop smoking for six months and 60% remained smoking-free after five years.

The 2014 study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that participants who wanted to quit smoking and used psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, combined with cognitive behavioral therapy were far more likely to succeed than those who try other traditional quit-smoking methods.

Lead author and University of Cincinnati postdoctoral researcher Neşe Devenot said the results demonstrate the potential psychedelics have to reshape self-perceptions to help people break free of old habits or addictions in the face of life’s daily triggers and temptations.

“We saw again and again that people had this feeling that they were done with smoking and that they were a nonsmoker now,” Devenot said.

She studies the science, history and culture of psychedelics in UC’s Institute for Research in Sensing.

Devenot said this new sense of self might help arm people against temptation or old triggers.

“If you want to give up meat but you smell a delicious steak, it might be hard to resist,” she said. “But if you identify as a vegetarian and your sense of who you are is someone who does not eat meat, that identity helps encourage a different choice.”

During the smoking cessation study, therapists gave participants guided imagery exercises in which they were asked to envision smoking as a behavior external to their core identity. The participants documented their experience in writing.

One guided imagery exercise from the study framed nicotine addiction as an external force, manipulating behavior for its own ends like the zombie-creating fungus in HBO’s popular series “The Last of Us.”

“Like the Cordyceps fungi that functionally transforms insects into ‘zombified’ marionettes to serve the fungi’s own reproductive purposes, smoking behavior is characterized as a form of parasitic manipulation,” the study found.

Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, said psilocybin could serve as a catalyst to help motivate and inspire people to make a change with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy.

“Cognitive behavioral therapy asks us to tune into the thoughts and feelings that we experience in our day-to-day lives and how those relate to our behaviors,” Garcia-Romeu said. “In turn, people often tend to build a narrative or sense of self around those cognitions and behaviors.

“This sets the stage for actually having the psilocybin experience, which can both provide novel insights and perspectives as well as serve as a marker of that identity shift like a rite of passage, signifying the change for instance from smoker to nonsmoker.”

Devenot said the experiment’s sample size was relatively small at just 15 participants. But the results are encouraging.

“I feel that I am somehow fundamentally different to yesterday,” one participant wrote. “I guess I feel like some sort of metamorphosis has taken place!”

Some participants said the treatment with psilocybin made quitting feel easy compared to past experiences. Another said the cravings for nicotine used to be unbearable. But during the dosing session, the participant was unable even to imagine craving a cigarette.

“The concept seems firmly cemented into my reality even today, that cravings are not something that are real,” one said.

A photo illustration of the mind. University of Cincinnati postdoctoral researcher Neşe Devenot studies psychedelics in UC's Institute of Research in Sensing.

CREDIT

Andrew Higley and Margaret Weiner

How do psychedelics help with this transformation?

Devenot says people often get stuck in the same ruts of behavior, responding the same way to stressors or other triggers. She likens it to a downhill skier who uses the same grooved path down the mountain that they have used a thousand other times.

“It’s not that simple, but it’s a metaphor for how we talk about psychedelics,” Devenot said. 

“Psychedelics have been compared to skiing in fresh snow. Some researchers suggest that you might have more freedom to maneuver your skis anywhere down the mountain,” she said. “The entrenched grooves of bad habits might not have as much pull on our skis, so we can lay down other paths.

“We’re looking for ways to help people shift behaviors and overcome the inertia of their habits that are more in line with their goals and aspirations,” Devenot said. “That’s why psychedelics are of wider interest to researchers.”

---

JOURNAL

Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

DOI

10.1353/ken.2022.0022 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

restricted access Psychedelic Identity Shift: A Critical Approach to Set And Setting

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

30-Dec-2022

COI STATEMENT

ND is an unpaid board member of Psymposia, a 501c3 nonprofit research organization. TN is a part-time scholar-in-residence at Tactogen Public Benefit Corporation. AGR is a paid scientific advisor to ETHA Natural Botanicals and NeonMind Biosciences. MWJ has been in paid advisory relationships with the following organizations regarding the medical development of psychedelics and related compounds: AJNA Labs LLC, AWAKN Life Sciences Inc., Beckley Psychedelic Ltd., Entheon Biomedical Corp., Field Trip Psychedelics Inc., Mind Medicine Inc., Silo Pharma, Inc., and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization Inc.

Forget Cigarettes Ban Asbestos

One of the greatest public secrets is that cigarettes and tobacco do not cause the majority of cases of lung cancer. Rather it is asbestos which kills more folks with its own unique forms of cancer and from lung cancer.

Canada produces the largest amount of asbestos in the world, and our government would rather oppose its elimination, while putting stupid warning labels on cigarette packages.

The WHO lays the blame for the majority of the cancer deaths from occupational risk factors, squarely on the wide use of carcinogenic substances such as blue asbestos, 2-naphthylamine and benzene 20 to 30 years ago.

The WHO warns that if the current unregulated use of carcinogens continues a significant increase in occupational cancer can be expected in the coming decades.

We are in the midst of a global epidemic of asbestos-related disease unfolding primarily in industrialized countries. The International Labor Organization (ILO) states that over 2 million workers die each year of occupational causes. 75 percent of these preventable deaths are due to work-related disease, and the rest to trauma. Ten percent of these fatalities occur among children where child labor is practiced. Cancer represents the largest component of occupational disease mortality. The single largest contributor to this workrelated cancer epidemic is without question "the magic mineral" — asbestos.

Needless deaths due to workplace cancer

Everyday 200,000 people around the world die from cancer related to their workplace, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Tragically, many workers are dying needlessly as the risks of occupational cancer are avoidable.

Common work-related cancers like lung cancer, mesothelioma and leukaemia are caused by exposure to carcinogens (cancer causing agents) in the working environment. Second-hand tobacco smoke, asbestos and benzene (an organic solvent) are the most common workplace carcinogen pollutants.

More than 125 million people around the world are exposed to asbestos at work and 90,000 people die each year from asbestos-related disease. Benzene is widely used by workers in many industries, such as chemical and diamond industries. Thousands die from leukaemia each year as a result of exposure to this organic solvent. Every 10th lung cancer death is closely related to the workplace.

WHO argue that the largest number of deaths are in workplaces that do not meet health and safety requirements and those that do not prevent carcinogens polluting the air.

Dr Maria Neira, WHO director of public health, argues "The tragedy of occupational cancer resulting from asbestos, benzene and other carcinogens is that it takes so long for science to be translated into protective action." She goes on to say "In the interests of protecting our health, we must adopt an approach rooted in primary prevention, that is to make workplaces free from carcinogenic risks."

CANCER KILLS 9/11 COP, 46

A retired NYPD detective who worked for the elite Emergency Service Unit died early yesterday of pancreatic and lung cancer believed to be related to his work at Ground Zero.

Retired Detective Robert Williamson, 45, died at his Orange County home with family around him, said Detectives Endowment Association head Michael Palladino.

"Unfortunately, I knew this day was going to come for a long time," Palladino said. "We are just now starting to see the long-term health affects of 9/11 on first responders."

Williamson was the third NYPD cop to succumb to cancers believed related to their post-9/11 service.

SEE:

Day of Mourning

In Canada Work Kills

Tories Promote Lung Cancer

Prove It

Make Up Your Mind

June Pointer RIP

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