Sweanor David, Alcabes Philip, Drucker Ernest
Int J Drug Policy. 2007 Mar;18(2):70-4. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2006.11.013. Epub 2007 Jan 5.
Nicotine, at the dosage levels smokers seek, is a relatively innocuous drug commonly delivered by a highly harmful device, cigarette smoke. An intensifying pandemic of disease caused or exacerbated by smoking demands more effective policy responses than the current one: demanding that nicotine users abstain. A pragmatic response to the smoking problem is blocked by moralistic campaigns masquerading as public health, by divisions within the community of opponents to present policy, and by the public-health professions antipathy to any tobacco-control endeavours other than smoking cessation. Yet, numerous alternative systems for nicotine delivery exist, many of them far safer than smoking. A pragmatic, public-health approach to tobacco control would recognize a continuum of risk and encourage nicotine users to move themselves down the risk spectrum by choosing safer alternatives to smoking--without demanding abstinence.
对于吸烟者所追求的剂量水平而言，尼古丁是一种相对无害的药物，通常通过极具危害性的装置——香烟烟雾来传递。由吸烟导致或加剧的疾病大流行日益严重，这需要比当前政策更有效的应对措施：要求尼古丁使用者戒烟。对吸烟问题的务实应对受到了伪装成公共卫生的道德运动、反对现行政策的群体内部分歧以及公共卫生行业对除戒烟之外的任何烟草控制努力的反感的阻碍。然而，存在许多替代的尼古丁传递系统，其中许多比吸烟安全得多。一种务实的公共卫生控烟方法将认识到风险的连续性，并鼓励尼古丁使用者通过选择比吸烟更安全的替代品来降低自身的风险等级——而不要求戒烟。
