User Interviews

As a part of my research on smoking, I conducted interviews of three people who had an experience to share about the topic.

1. Quit Tobacco Addiction: Conversation with Rebecca

Rebecca is an experienced profession who work for Vital Strategies, which is a global health organization that designs solutions to pressing health problems.

I started by asking her what does she feel about smoking. What does her organization do and what is their target audience?

She explained that her organization helps to design policies with the government and tries to help pass laws and campaigns for example the campaign like no smoking at public places that would help prevent people from smoking. Another example is the campaign that restricted smoking infant of children as well as inside cars.

That basically means that their target audience is not individual smokers. With the government of Norway, Australia Vital Strategies was able to increase the price and taxes on cigarettes and create a smoke free policy the would make it difficult for people to buy cigarettes and non glamourise the same by banning advertisements. The price was increased from 18$ to 25$ for a pack.

Thoughts on Nicotine patches and other alternates for regular cigarettes. What should people try to actually quit smoking.

She started off by saying that Nicotine patches, chewing gums, cessation programs are not great however they might work for some people and not work for the others. Any of these alternatives do not solve the problem and help in quitting smoking but somehow reduce the amount of intake.

Even herbal cigarettes and e-cigarettes for that matter, they do not contain Tobacco but only Nicotine which gives the same sensation as that of a cigarettes. Because of which people are still in effect of the smoking mindset. She said, “Anything you burn through your mouth and put it in your lungs whether it’s marijuana or something else doesn’t solve the problem.”

For those who are actually interested in quitting smoking, just stop. She said, “Best way to quit is just quit”. As much as it is hard to do that, it is the only way for achieve and overcome the problem. It is definitely hard but not impossible. About 80–90 percent of people quit on their own, which means the target audience is always people who have will power and a motivation to quit the habit.

She mentioned that there are some helpful tips on the website of the New York Government made for the people.

Personal opinion and experiences around smoking.

She stated that her personal opinion aligns with her work and what her organisation does. She strongly agrees with the fact that the taxes and prices for cigarettes be increased. Smoking laws should be applied to work spaces to help the rate go lower.

“Smoking is killing 8 million people a year. I am working on creating an environment where we promote eating healthy and running. MPOWER by WHO is a great initiative.

Additionally, COVID-19 is yet an example to people to enlighten themselves as to how weak their immunity can get because of smoking and make them more prone to diseases.

We should definitely voice in favour of banning fancy alternative that only tempt people to smoke more. As well as make people aware and expose them to the hard hitting reality and emotional aspects for instance a child’s mother dying due to lung cancer.”

2. Helping A Friend: Conversation with Jasmine

Jasmine is a Software Engineer by profession and a non-smoker. The following interview is based on her experience with one of her friend who is a heavy smoker and wanted to quit.

I started by getting to know more about her friend and his story behind starting to smoke.

Jasmine shared that her friend used to be a non-smoker until 3 years back. He started working as an IT professional after graduation in 2017 and which is when he was introduced to smoking. He used to see his peers smoking and started casually with them to give company.

The level of his smoking addiction was not much for the first year when would just to it for company. However one day he was really stressed from his work and he reached out for a cigarette by himself. That broke the hesitation grounds for him and ever since it does not take long for him a light a cigarette every now and then.

How did you get to know about this habit? What did you do about it?

“I got to know that he started smoking so heavily by him only. He started getting worried about himself and how he couldn’t resist smoking and that is when he approached him.

He explained how he started and what he feels about it now. He mentioned that smoking numbs his mind and makes him reach a peaceful state. Because of which he is drawn towards it whenever he is stressed.

He wanted me to help him and keep a check. We started by trying out Nicotine patches and they seemed to work. But little did we know it was temporary. He portrayed to me as if he was over the addiction and so doesn’t require the patches anymore only to be able to smoke again.

I saw a pattern and figured some stages in his behaviour. From non-smoker to smoker when his hesitation broke, to being concerned and reaching out to me for help to lying to me so that he could avoid answering me and continue smoking.”

What more you think can you do? What is the solution to this problem?

She answers by saying that there is no one perfect solution that will work for everyone. Every person is different, has different reasons and situations for smoking as well as varying levels of addiction.

“I think only people who are self aware and wish to help themselves can be pulled out of this habit. All we can do is be there if someone needs to talk, understand why they reach out for a cigarette and how it helps them. And then try to simulate a similar experience for them but without a cigarette.”

3. Self Help: Dae Young Kim

Dae Young is a fellow mate of mine. He is a student currently with a military background. The interview with him was on his personal experience with smoking and how he managed to take control

Tell me about the time you started smoking.

He told me that he hails from Korea and was a part of the military there. He started smoking while he was training under the military as a casual habit.

“There would be breaks while we were training and we would spend those breaks by taking a cigarette in the canteen that was accessible to use. And sometimes when it would not be available there, some of us would go outside the premises and grab one.”

What made you want to quit smoking?

“After I started smoking a lot, I saw a drastic change in my performance. My stamina and performance was badly impacted. I used to be the top runner of my batch when we started but I couldn’t achieve that anymore.

It also started showing on my face and I had acne. I was not liking these changes in my body and what smoking was causing. And so I decided to stop smoking.

My motivation was to get my stamina back and become the top runner again as well as reverse them impacts on my appearance. And I just stopped. I started running and engaging myself in other activities by putting in an extra conscious effort towards it. In a couple of weeks I started to see the results.”

How do you feel about smoking now?

“After I left the military, I started smoking again. I do smoke now but not as much. It’s more like a routine now and I think I have control over it. I smoke a maximum of one cigarette before going to bed.”

What do you think about something that will help you distract when you have the urge to smoke again?

“That would be really great. I think if I have something that helps me distract before I reach out to a cigarette before bed I would be really interested. Maybe I don’t smoke at all.”