What’s the Best Way to Stop Smoking?

Convincing millions of people to behave in a healthier way is not simple, but in the past two decades, U.S. public health officials have been remarkably successful in getting large numbers of people to quit smoking by banning smoking in public places and raising taxes on cigarettes.

Now, a federal judge has blocked a bold new anti-smoking effort. the FDA wants to require tobacco companies to place graphic images of the effects of smoking on cigarette packages. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said that five cigarette companies that are suing to block the FDA requirement will “suffer irreparable harm” and called for a judicial review of the FDA rule.

The FDA had required that cigarettes sold in this country would have to have the graphic images starting in September 2012. the pictures are scary and yucky: images of diseased lungs, rotting teeth and dead bodies. the tobacco companies said redesigning the packages would be hugely expensive and they wouldn’t be able to get the money back from the FDA (that’s the irreparable harm cited by the judge).

But I reckon a larger question is whether these images will work to stop any current or future smokers from lighting up. Is there anyone who doesn’t know that smoking will kill you? And yet a hardcore group of smokers still have distress quitting.

I don’t have a problem with the pictures myself and I’m not worried about tobacco companies’ profits but I want to see the federal government focus more on anti-smoking strategies that we know will work than scare tactics. I’m not sure that disgusting pictures are the best way to help nicotine addicts any more than those “this is your drug on brains” ads stopped people from using illegal drugs.