Cessation of Smoking

To the Editor.— In the QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS column, Alan Blum, MD (1980;244:191), made several comments concerning our nicotine neutralization treatment to stop smoking, to which we would like to respond. While we would agree that any smoking cessation treatment program should be proven by doubleblind studies, there must be some physicians who work out the details of the technique before it is ready for use by all physicians. (Incidentally, initial, unpublished reports from the ongoing double-blind study at the University of Miami indicate a statistical difference between treatment and needle stick placebo [personal communication, Roger Palmer, MD].) In the meantime, as private physicians, we must make the choice of using a technique which, in our office, has been found to be over 50% effective in follow-up to one year, or refer patients to other programs. We have considered doing a double-blind study in this office, however, our patients (particularly