News

Goody Two Shoes - Don't drink - don't smoke - what do you do?

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

In 2013 we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Allen Carr discovering his method. Since 1983 EASYWAY has been applied to many different addictions with phenomenal success. At Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London we now offer treatment for, not just smoking, weight, and alcohol – but for “other drugs” as well.

Robin Hayley & Crispin Hay have worked tirelessly to ensure that the method can be applied to a whole host of drug addictions including crack cocaine, cocaine, heroin, opium, marijuana, prescription drugs, and solvents.

There don’t appear to be many alternatives to hugely expensive (and normally residential) treatments such as those provided by The Priory or local health authorities and it’s wonderful to see so many people suffering from addiction to these drugs being freed (often in one 5-6 hour session) at our London Clinic.

There needs to be an alternative to The Priory which is painfully expensive and often only available to those with the means to afford the service and although drug sessions at Allen Carr’s London Clinic are conducted on a One to One basis they remain extremely affordable at £550. This price not only includes free of charge back-up sessions for the few that require them – but also the same money back guarantee that has been enjoyed by our stop smoking and stop drinking clients for more than 25 years.

Addiction to drugs is something that touches so many people in London and the Home Counties and now we have clients flying from all over the world to attend the clinic. Drug addiction seems to cross all sections of London society with recent clients seeking treatment for their addiction coming from every kind of profession imaginable. This month we have seen an electrician, a paralegal, construction worker, estate agent, publisher, student, banker, refuse collector, artist, and an IT professional seeking treatment for anything from crack to cannabis, from heroin to cocaine, Amphetamine to Ketamine to prescription drug addiction.

Rather than an alternative to The Priory or other addiction centres Allen Carr’s Easyway deserves to be the first choice for the treatment of drug addiction in London, the Home Counties and beyond.

Allen Carr’s Easyway isn’t about forcing people to become “Goody Two Shoes” types…for example people who come to us to stop smoking certainly don’t have to stop drinking in order to do so (to the relief of many clients it has to be said)… but if someone has issues with drugs, whether legal or illegal, and wants to stop – we are here to help them at Allen Carr’s Easyway Clinic – London.

Click here for more information about our alcohol and other drugs seminars in the UK.

To enjoy “Goody Two Shoes – Don’t drink – don’t smoke – what do you do?” by Adam and The Ants from 1982 click below -

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Foundation and Allen Carr's Easyway. How did it go?

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking

Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Team in London are used to dealing with all kinds of requests; from celebrity clients who want to stop smoking in the privacy of their own homes - to global corporate clients who want to help their staff stop smoking at stop smoking seminars held in their London offices. But even the team in London were excited to hear from Jamie Oliver's brilliant Fifteen Apprentice programme in London. The Fifteen Apprentice Programme, part of the Jamie Oliver Foundation, uses the magic of food to give young people a chance to have a better future. Now in its tenth year the programme is seeking to do as much as it can to encourage the young people embarking on a career in catering to establish positive patterns.

We were delighted to arrange a seminar via our London stop smoking clinic's corporate service and it was wonderful to receive the feedback from Jamie Oliver's team and the attendees. Testimonials from people who have stopped smoking can really encourage smokers to attempt to stop. Clearly - when smokers hear how easy it can be to stop (as long as you know how) it encourages them even more.

Nikki Giles from The Jamie Oliver Foundation provided some lovely feedback "I am so grateful that Allen Carr's Easyway agreed and facilitated a stop smoking workshop for our apprentices. Each year we have a majority who smoke and who want to quit but have never managed to successfully. The workshop was the first time I have ever experienced such a genuinely effective method which removes the struggle typifying most attempts to quit. Thank you very much."

It's even more wonderful to hear a selection of comments about Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking in London from some of the participants from the Fifteen Apprentice Programme

Kelsey "I enjoyed the workshop, I learnt more about how smoking affects you mentally and physically. I haven’t smoked since and I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking seriously about quitting."

Ayssa "After the workshop I feel really liberated and I am not dreading as much the next occasion when I might want a cigarette (as I did when I tried quitting before). I can’t think of a single good reason for smoking anymore and feel a lot more confident about being a non-smoker."

Michael "Before the workshop I had many poor reasons for smoking, like boredom. The Allen Carr course has made me realise that there are no actual benefits to smoking and I’m confident that I won’t ever go back."

Abd "It was an engaging, though provoking and life changing day!"

The seminar was presented by Colleen Dwyer, a senior therapist at Allen Carr's Easyway's London clinic. Colleen has helped tens of thousands of smokers stop smoking in London and says "It's a wonderful feeling helping people to stop smoking. If that wasn't great enough - helping them to find it easy to stop smoking as opposed to them feeling like they've quit smoking with a sense of loss - is a magical factor. It's why so many smokers in London (and 40 other locations in the UK and 45+ countries around the globe) who want to get off cigarettes choose Allen Carr's Easyway."

In the South East of England Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking have sessions regularly in London, Reading, Staines, Bournemouth, Southampton, Brighton, Maidstone, and Aylesbury.

For more information on how you (or a smoker you know) can find it easy to stop smoking in London (or anywhere else in the world) visit www.allencarr.com

22 November 2011

Vive la France!

It’s great to see our publisher in France getting behind the launch of the latest edition in their range of Allen Carr books. The illustrated version of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking is featured in this silent short promo.

Stop Smoking Now (the latest version of the written method) should also be published in France imminently. The books and stop smoking clinics have been incredibly successful in France over the years and it is wonderful to see our long standing relationship with this publisher continue to generate great sales and help save hundreds of thousands of lives in France.

You can find the full range of Allen Carr books in French here

or click here for information about our stop smoking centres in France.

Click here to see the promo.

17 November 2011

The Growing Worldwide Team - Scotland

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

We are very lucky to have a variety of hugely motivated, highly dedicated, and extremely capable people within Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation across the world. It can often be of interest to smokers who want to stop to hear how our team around the world has been gathered and this is the fourth in a series of features that look at the various journeys that members of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Therapist team have taken; from being some of the most accomplished and active smokers on the planet to becoming happy non-smokers and world-leaders in the field of stopping smoking.

Paul Melvin, Allen Carr’s Easyway Scotland writes:

I fell into the smoking trap around the age of twelve. All my friends were doing it and just to be one of the gang I puffed away trying not to cough my lungs up. My father died at the age of 47 years old due to smoking and by this time I was a confirmed 10 a day smoker at the ripe old age of 16 years old. My family arranged an appointment with the doctor for me to try to persuade me to stop smoking. I looked at the doctor with a blank expression as he warbled on about lung cancer and heart disease. I thought “I can stop when I want to” but I didn’t realise then that I was no more in control of smoking than a fly who lands on the predatory pitcher plant for the first time and thinks it can fly away at any point. Little did I know I’d be back at the same surgery 12 years later begging the doctor to free me from nicotine addiction.

Fast forward to that point at 28 years old and I’d become a chain-smoking physical wreck. By this time I was incapable of running and coughed the contents of my lungs up every morning knowing it was going to kill me. At this point I decided it was time to quit or die in a few years and this is where my nightmare began.

I began by trying to use willpower to quit but this was a nightmare. My first few attempts were scuppered after one hour or so. I’d put myself into a blind panic at the mere thought of losing what I thought of as “my little friend” so I decided to seek the help of my doctor.

I couldn’t believe that the doctor wanted to prescribe me more nicotine and this would seemingly help me it to quit. It didn’t!!!! I’d take the patches off to have a cigarette then try unsuccessfully to stick them back on leaving a trail of fallen nicotine patches wherever I went. I soon gave up on this strategy thinking I’d never be free.

I also tried Laser Therapy where someone fires a laser gun into your ear and this supposedly makes you quit. I was desperate for a cigarette the moment I left the building. Another failed attempt and waste of my time and money. I’d become resigned to the possibility of spending the rest of my short life as a hopeless smoker.

One day my mother said a friend had told her about a stop smoking method that I should try. It was called Allen Carr’s Easyway. Although they had stop smoking clinics all over the world I thought it would be just another waste of time but two things made me think again. One was that you could smoke throughout the seminar/session (halleluiah) and the other was that the method provided a money-back guarantee. I really didn’t think there was anything to lose by giving it a try.

I gave the clinics a call and found out that the therapist was an ex-smoker. This helped to convince me to give it a go. I arrived at the session with much trepidation and a full pack of twenty cigarettes.

I sat in a comfy chair for the next five hours and puffed my way through most of the pack and learned the truth about nicotine addiction. This took away my fear of stopping and towards the end I started to get really excited. I went through a ritual of smoking a final cigarette and knew at that moment – I was free. I was still apprehensive about the physical withdrawal pangs though…. I needn’t have worried.. The slight feeling of emptiness I felt later that day was actually enjoyable as I knew my body was kicking out the nicotine for the last time.

Since that day 8 years ago I’ve never ever contemplated having another cigarette and once again feel great about life. This is what Allen Carr’s Easyway has done for me. I considered myself the most hopeless smoker in the world. If it can do that for me – anyone can do it!

I’ve also used Allen Carr’s Easyway as a catalyst to achieving other seemingly impossible feats in my life such as running my own business and pushing myself academically to limits I didn’t think possible. My greatest feat though, was studying to become a therapist for Allen Carr’s Easyway and after 18 months of arduous training becoming part of a global family of Allen Carr stop smoking therapists around the world.

16 November 2011

The Fifteen Apprentices "Stubbing it Out" with Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics

The Fifteen Apprentice Programme, founded in 2002 by Jamie Oliver, uses the magic of food to give young people a chance to have a better future. Now in its tenth year the programme is seeking to do as much as it can to encourage the young people embarking on a career in catering to establish positive patterns.

It’s a known fact that smoking can alter the palate of a chef, so Fifteen is committed to helping those who do smoke, with the tools to quit. Helping the youngsters to stop smoking is one way to inspire a healthier lifestyle.

Nikki Giles of Jamie Oliver Foundation says "Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics and books have an amazing global reputation for helping smokers of all ages to stop smoking - so it was a natural choice for us to approach Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London about their Corporate Stop Smoking Service".

John Dicey, Worldwide Director of Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking organisation comments "Many employers are realising that helping their staff to quit smoking not only improves productivity, reduces absenteeism through sickness, and reduces health insurance costs but is a tangible and lasting gift for their smoking employees in terms of their health, freedom from addiction, and money saved (a 20-a-day smoker can spend more than £2,000 a year on cigarettes). It's wonderful to be involved in helping Fifteen's apprentices to stop smoking as they work towards graduating and we are delighted to be involved. As well as the health benefits of course – chefs who smoke do tend to over-season their food so diners can have an even greater experience if their chef is a non-smoker".

To celebrate the Fifteen project Allen Carr’s Easyway Clinics are delighted to offer a £50 discount to anyone who mentions “FIFTEEN” when booking a session at any UK Allen Carr’s Easyway Clinic (normal cost £220 including money back guarantee). Call 0800 389 2115 or www.allencarr.com for more information.

07 November 2011

The Growing Worldwide Team - Australia

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

We are so fortunate to have an incredible array of highly motivated, dedicated, and hugely capable people within Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation across the world. Often people are surprised to hear how our global team has been assembled and this is the second installment of a series of features that look at the various journeys “Allen Carr people” have taken; from being some of the most prolific smokers on the planet to becoming happy non-smokers and world-leading experts on stopping smoking.

Natalie Clays, Allen Carr’s Easyway New South Wales, Australia writes:

I’d tried everything over 20 years to stop smoking. I had drifted into smoking – eventually lighting up regularly while hiding in the bushes at school at the age of fifteen.

Throughout my twenty years of smoking I fell into every category or smoking type. For the most part I was just your average pack a day smoker – a couple before work, one every hour at work and then back to back cigarettes at night. But throughout the years I also did the “secret smoker” and “chain smoker” thing too.

In a bid to cut down I became a casual smoker, only smoking with a drink and at weekends, but this just made me drink more as an excuse to be able to smoke. The thought of quitting was always at the back of my mind somewhere but it never quite seemed to make it to the front. Somehow it just never seemed to be the right time, or that’s what I told myself after every failed attempt.

I tried patches maybe a dozen times. I went to see a hypnotherapist (actually I went to see three – I was desperate) and every single time I’d walk out feeling positive and then light up a few hours later. I had gum, herbs, lasers, needles, inhalators, lozenges and some crazy tablets that made me feel even more depressed, but nothing that helped me to stop. Every time I just felt so empty and couldn’t stop thinking about smoking. I decided that I’d prefer to be a smoker and happy, rather than miserable and deprived and not allowed to smoke.

A friend told me about Allen Carr. “It’s amazing,” she boasted, as I puffed away in front of her, envying her ability to drink a glass of wine without it bothering her. I had tried everything else, what did I have to lose?

I was very nervous when I arrived at the clinic on 21st June 2003. What if it doesn’t work? Will I be one of their few failures? What if it does work? I’ll never be able to smoke again! Five hours later I walked out feeling….feeling….I didn’t know how I felt. Had it worked? How would I know? What was going to happen next? And that was it. Nothing happened. No awful withdrawals, no anxiety, no inability to function, I just simply didn’t smoke anymore. No desire, no cravings, no longing. In fact I can’t think of anything worse than having to smoke a cigarette.

That session changed my life. It had such a huge effect on me that not only did I quit smoking, but I also quit my job. I trained as an Allen Carr therapist and I now have the wonderful role of showing other smokers just how easy it can be to quit, once you understand how the smoking trap works. It’s wonderful to be part of the worldwide team across more than 45 countries.

03 October 2011

The Growing Worldwide Team - North America

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

We are so lucky to have an amazing array of highly motivated, dedicated, and hugely capable people within Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation across the world. People are often surprised to hear how our global team has been assembled and this is the first instalment of a series of features that look at the various journeys “Allen Carr people” have taken; from being some of the most prolific smokers on the planet to becoming happy non-smokers and world-leading experts on stopping smoking.

Damian O’Hara, Allen Carr’s Easyway North America writes:

I had my first cigarette as a nine year-old, to try to impress one of my older brother’s friends. That first cigarette was truly disgusting, but it didn’t stop me from becoming a heavy smoker for twenty-six years.

I was what we call a ‘serial quitter’. Most of my attempts lasted just a couple of minutes before I had a ‘nic fit’, caved in and lit a cigarette. Things became so bad that I almost gave up trying to quit smoking.

Then in January 2001 I suffered a bout of tonsillitis. I couldn’t eat, talk, breathe or swallow, let alone smoke. For the first time in over twenty years, I went a whole day without smoking. I made the mistake of mentioning this to my wife who promptly suggested that I attend an Allen Carr’s Easyway seminar. She had quit back in 1992, just before we met, by reading the first edition of Allen Carr’s bestselling book, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking. Being the wonderful person she is, she never tried to hassle me into stopping smoking. But she knew that one day I would be ready to quit and I will forever be in her debt for suggesting that I attend the seminar. I can only think that the pain meds slightly scrambled my thinking, and I agreed to go.

At one o’clock on February 21st 2001 I found myself sitting in Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London along with seventeen other terrified smokers. I could barely see Cris, the facilitator, through the blue fog of smoke (in those days attendees were able to smoke throughout the session, today, due to smoking by-laws, the sessions now feature regular smoke breaks). I think everyone in the room expected to be trying to “give up” smoking rather than be released from it.

Five minutes into the session I remember thinking ‘If I’m stuck in this room for the next five hours, I may as well listen to what these guys have to say.’

I listened to Cris talk about smoking, about quitting and about nicotine. There were no scare tactics, no pictures of diseased lungs and no guilt trips. Despite thinking that I already knew everything there was to know about smoking, many of the concepts he explained were completely new to me – I had just never really thought about smoking this way before. I found myself agreeing with everything he said. As the day wore on, I found my desire to smoke faded. By the time Cris instructed us to smoke our final cigarette, I could barely light it.

The evening passed without a problem and the following morning I didn’t even think about smoking. Lighting a cigarette didn’t even occur to me. I was stunned. Smoking had gone from being the centre of my life to being a total irrelevance in just five hours. I couldn’t believe it, and neither could my family, my friends and colleagues. The changes in my life came thick and fast. I felt truly free and truly happy for the first time in years. I had more energy, I lost weight. I was able to concentrate longer and harder. Instead of looking for excuses to be away from my family so I could smoke, I felt re-engaged with them. It was fantastic.

Three months after attending, I wrote to Allen to thank him for helping me escape and to offer my help in spreading the word internationally. In September 2001, I was proud to be chosen to represent Allen Carr’s Easyway in Canada, a role that was extended in 2005 to encompass the United States also. It is such a privilege to be able to share Allen’s simple, drug-free method with smokers in North America.

29 September 2011

Hold your fire if you think the “Nanny State” has gone too far!

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

A study by Bristol University investigators which indicates that teenagers who watch films showing actors smoking are more likely to take it up is hardly a revelation of epic proportions.

The research which is published in the journal Thorax looked at the potential influence of some of the 360 top US box office films released between 2001 and 2005, including movies like Spider-Man, Bridget Jones, and The Matrix that feature smoking.

There are calls for any new movie containing smoking to receive an “18” rating – a move which is likely to eradicate smoking from mainstream movies. The reason is simple – the movie industry hate mainstream movies getting an “18” rating as it dramatically limits the potential audience/sales.

Before we all cry “foul” and exclaim that the “nanny state has gone mad” we surely have to appreciate that something does need to be done. The movies that were studied were extremely popular and more and more movies continue to feature (in most cases entirely unnecessarily and inexplicably) smoking.

Does it seem an entirely natural assumption to make that smoking might survive well into the 22nd Century? Yet this is what Sigourney Weaver’s character in the 2009 blockbuster “Avatar” appeared to confirm as she puffed away on a cigarette. Is this just lazy characterisation? A hard nosed maverick image clumsily illustrated by the character being a smoker? Sir John Gielgud might have suggested that perhaps the actor should “try acting”!

Or perhaps something a little more sinister is at work here. Avatar had a PG rating and was watched by tens of millions of young teenagers.

So…. somehow smoking, in its exact current form; soft pack, filter, smoke, lighter, et al, make it to the mid-22nd Century? Would the film have been harmed in any way if it had not featured smoking? Certainly not! So let’s make darn sure it doesn’t happen again!

But what about new productions of a historical nature? Those who clamour for freedom of expression in art and the need for absolute realism claim that portraying smoking is essential for a movie set in, for example, 1960s England. But is it really?

We can’t airbrush “all things bad” out of movies – but we do show restraint with regard to non-smoking related issues. Unless they are the main focus of the movie or TV show casual and explicit sexism, xenophobia, or racism seldom feature. Recent retro UK TV shows such as “Life on Mars” and “Inspector George Gently” might find sexism and almost constant smoking essential to depict the 1960s accurately – but common decency (thank goodness) prevents them from presenting the truly ugly existence of widespread, explicit and aggressive casual racism that was rampant within the British Police Force (and much of the population at large) at that time.

Why is it that these shows only stoop to portraying smoking and sexism leaving the other issues well alone? Why are smoking and sexism essential to the realism of the work yet the other issues are happily omitted? What does this say about the attitudes of those people who are responsible for the arts?

I suspect it’s a combination of lazy writing, direction, and acting fuelled by some kind of determination to keep smoking on our screens. Who knows from where that determination has been born, nurtured, cultivated, sustained, and funded? For once – the nanny state appears to be trying to do something right.

The latest research, published in the journal Thorax, indicates that adolescents who saw the most films depicting smoking were 73% more likely to have tried a cigarette than those exposed to the least. And they were 50% more likely to be a current smoker.

The Independent reports a Department of Culture, Sports and Media spokesperson saying: “The Government believes the current arrangements provide sufficient control on the depiction of smoking in films and a total ban would be a disproportionate interference. This action would undermine the credibility, and therefore the quality, of domestically produced films.”

I wonder what they know that we don’t?

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics can help any smoker stop smoking easily. If you want help to stop smoking why not give us a call so that we can tell you a little more about the method and our unique money back guarantee. You can find out how to stop smoking rather than feel that you have to “give up” smoking.

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics. Quit smoking or your money back.

21 September 2011

Big Pharma and Big Tobacco on verge of winning The Nicotine War!

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

There is no pleasure gained when a prediction of calamity is proven correct – especially when it is likely to effect so many millions of lives in such a profound and deeply tragic way. We’ve written many times about Government Sponsored Addiction over the past decades with the prescription of nicotine products (nicotine patches and gum etc) being used in attempts to help smokers to quit.

We certainly appear to be in an “Emperor’s Clothes” situation with the very same people who claimed that nicotine products could cure addiction to nicotine now driving through plans for nicotine to be used in order to keep smokers hooked to the drug on an ongoing, long-term basis!

The Guardian describes how the Cabinet Office’s behavioral insight team – better known as the nudge unit – wants to adopt the new technology because policy officials believe the rigid “quit or die” approach to smoking advice no longer “works”. As if it ever did!

They now want nicotine addiction to be “managed” to “help” smokers who otherwise won’t quit – an approach the unit believes could prevent millions of smoking deaths. Managing addiction? Really?

The result? A green light for new products that deliver nicotine to addicts. A strategy of “don’t cure the addict – feed them”.

So called experts have advised the UK government that the nicotine contained in some new, smokefree cigarettes is no more harmful than caffeine in coffee.

The Guardian reports a Cabinet Office source saying: “A lot of countries are moving to ban this stuff; we think that’s a mistake.”

Of course the real mistake is that despite Allen Carr’s explicit advice to the contrary, the Government, Department of Health, NICE, and ASH, pursued a decade long folly of attempting to cure nicotine addiction by giving the addict nicotine. Not only has this cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds – more importantly it has cost the lives of tens of thousands of smokers who, had they been provided with an effective means of stopping smoking, might not have perished at the hands of their addiction.

The sickening denouement? Rather than investigate Allen Carr’s Easyway method as a safe, highly effective, cost effective solution to the smoking problem the same people who pursued the use of nicotine to cure nicotine addiction are now abandoning attempts to cure smokers of their addiction and instead planning to keep them hooked on nicotine indefinitely.

The Guardian reports “The Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is looking into approving these devices for use. If it finds in their favour, the government is likely to push for them to be placed prominently in shops alongside tobacco cigarettes, where they would be sold at a cheaper rate.”

Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation also predicted some time ago that soon these products will not only be on general sale, but marketed aggressively towards not just new customers, but our children. Keep an eye out for toffee and chocolate flavoured nicotine sprays advertised in much the same way as cigarettes were in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970’s.

Our blogs over the past few years have highlighted the likelihood of the latest news delivered in The Guardian.

April 2011
Are friends electric?
The nicotine war is warming up

March 2011
Smoking bans still derigeur

August 2010
Letter to the editor

December 2008
Is the government’s smoking cessation strategy working?

You can read the full story from The Guardian here –
Guardian.co.uk 15 September 2011

Fa-fa-fa-fa Fashion

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

The Irish Independent newspaper reports that former editor of Vogue (Paris) Carine Roitfeld regrets using cigarettes in so many of her fashion shoots. She was editor of French Vogue magazine for ten years and left her post in January.

Roitfeld states that she wishes she’d never shown models smoking in her pictures as she knows it probably had a profound effect on many young women. Apparently her sudden change of heart has more to do with her husband having stopped smoking than the fact that she is no longer employed as editor of a seriously influential magazine. What a tragedy that she has only now seen the light – or perhaps she new very well what she was doing all along?

Talking about the impact the photo shoots that she selected were likely to have had on young female readers of the magazine Roitfeld is reported as saying “….some are very young, and they’re like sponges. So if your girl [in the photo shoot] is smoking a cigarette, they can say, ‘Oh, my God, it’s smart to smoke a cigarette, it’s good for the look, so I’m going to have one, too.’ And it’s totally stupid.”

Smokers young and old can find it easy to stop smoking by using Allen Carr’s Easyway method. Learning how to stop smoking is actually really easy…when you know how. Furthermore – knowing how youngsters have been ruthlessly and knowingly exploited by the fashion industry and movie industry for decades by creating poster boys and girls for the tobacco industry can be a really motivating factor and can even spark an attempt for a smoker to try and quit smoking. At that time it’s so important that they get help to stop smoking from a proven method. Thank you to everyone who recommends Allen Carr’s Easyway www.allencarr.com

Maybe you can help inspire someone to set themselves free by forwarding this article.

It’s always wonderful to read the thousands of testimonials left by happy non-smokers who used Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics and books here

Here is a link to the story about Roitfeld in The Irish Independent

And why not give yourself a treat and listen to

David Bowie's "Fashion"

13 September 2011

The etiquette of socialising as a happy non-smoker

From the Desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

You must know the kind of situation I intend to refer to here – I hope I am not alone in my re-occurring quandary. Indeed – I am more than a little embarrassed to have not (until recently) established a firm position on the issue. The fact is that I analyze, observe, and interpret the psychology of smokers every day and was myself an “International Class” chain smoker before stopping smoking courtesy of Allen Carr many years ago.

Ever since that amazing day when I learned how to quit smoking easily and painlessly I automatically found myself being incredibly tolerant of smokers. It’s something about the ease with which Allen Carr’s Easyway enables someone who has previously struggled to stop smoking – to suddenly, as if by magic, find it easy to stop, and not only achieve that – but avoid the terrible pitfall, and darkest fear of the would-be quitter – becoming a moaning, angry, reformed, grouchy former smoker!

Soon after I attended Allen Carr’s stop smoking clinic – the first thing I’d do when a smoker came to my home was make sure they had an ashtray and felt comfortable to smoke as normal. It was years before one of my smoking friends pointed out to me that neither he nor his wife smoked in their own home anymore nor did they allow anyone else to, and that I really didn’t need to be worried about feeling awkward about him not feeling welcome to smoke in my home anymore. Even then I persisted – firm in the knowledge that were I still a smoker I’d consider a friend’s house with smoking facilities a welcome oasis in a desert of unfriendliness towards smokers. It was only when my first child was born that smoking friends were obliged to leave the house.

I occasionally remain, as the title of this feature implies, in somewhat of a dilemma when it comes to being out with smokers.

Example. The other night – myself, my wife, a friend (all non-smokers), and my friend’s wife (a smoker) were all enjoying a fantastic night out in London. Perfectly presented and mixed chilled drinks and the prospect of a fabulous meal in our favorite restaurant.

I was deep in conversation with my friend’s wife while my wife and friend were discussing another topic entirely. I was doing most of the listening – which suits me – and enjoying the drinks, the atmosphere, the comfort, the relaxation of the evening. Mid-conversation my friend’s wife indicated that she needed to nip outside for a cigarette. For some reason – at that moment I had no idea what the etiquette for such situations might be. I blabbed out that I was happy to join her outside or perhaps she might prefer to smoke alone – she said she didn’t mind either way. I decided that had I joined her – the subject would have turned to smoking, how to stop smoking, finding a way to stop smoking, general stopping smoking issues, quitting smoking stories, and a review of popular stop smoking methods. Often smokers find it incredibly embarrassing to smoke in front of non-smokers in such situations – yet they feel obliged to talk about it. I was certain that this was a conversation neither she nor I really wanted to have – so I remained in my seat.

I immediately felt awful. Surely I should have accompanied her outside while she smoked! I should have had faith in my ability to put her at ease and continue with the theme of the conversation that the cigarette break had interrupted. How could I have been such an idiot? I resolved, from that point on, to always accompany a lone smoker in a group on their smoking break, unless of course they indicated a preference for solitude. I hope my friend’s wife will forgive me if she felt I was rude for not joining her outside (mind you – when she came back she did promise to attend an Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic soon).

It’s funny that this situation only appears to have arisen with me recently – perhaps because I have previously tended to socialize in bigger groups – therefore a lone smoker in a group is either less likely to occur (ie there’s normally more than one smoker in the group) or has perhaps been less noticeable (they might normally nip outside un-noticed for a puff on their own).

I wonder whether anyone else has noticed this kind of situation or if there is an accepted protocol or etiquette for such situations?

20 July 2011

Open Season on Smokers!

From the Desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

Smokers appear to be subjected to endless bullying in a variety of different ways. Often the nagging and bullying is based on the mistaken belief that you can hassle a smoker to give up smoking. If quitting smoking was based on the success of the smoker being nagged I’m pretty sure smoking rates would be a fraction of their current scale (and I would have quit smoking years before I eventually did).

Daily Finance reports that smokers working for US department store Macy’s are being charged an extra $35 a month for health coverage. They are not alone – with giants companies such as PepsiCo and Gannett already charging employees who smoke. Daily Finance points out that some employers in the USA, Union Pacific being one, refuse to employ smokers at all.

I guess that this is understandable given that it is now accepted as fact that it costs 18% more to employ a smoker vs. a non-smoker. I think this is also a key reason that our corporate stop smoking service is so busy all over the world with employers falling over themselves to help their employees stop smoking.

We are one of the few smoking cessation organisations who offer a truly global solution to an employer’s worldwide staff smoking problem. The savings experienced by the employer are only the half of it though. When an employee receives help to quit smoking from their employer it really is appreciated as a gift for life. The former smoker immediately becomes healthier and wealthier but, for so many other reasons, HAPPIER. Stopping smoking is one of the most amazing things an individual can do – the gift of providing an easy way to stop smoking is one of the most amazing benefits any employer can bestow on an employee.

Penalizing and bullying smokers is one thing – it’s really unfair – providing smokers with the option of a proven way to stop smoking easily is an entirely different matter.

If you’d like to help your employees obtain some help to stop smoking please visit us here or maybe send the link to your Human Resources Department.

For the full story in Daily Finance (which includes interesting information on a variety of ways employers can save insurance costs and help their employees to better health) click here.

07 July 2011

Summer Holidays and stopping smoking

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

People often dismiss an attempt to quit smoking until after their holiday. Just the prospect of having to suffer without cigarettes by attempting to give up smoking while on their annual vacation is enough to scare most smokers away from even trying. The belief that it has to be hard to quit smoking is so firmly ingrained on smokers minds that just the thought of attempting to do so is likely to be banished from any holiday plans smokers might otherwise have.

On holiday (or just before going) is actually a great time to stop smoking. I spent my Easter 2010 family vacation in Cyprus and was intrigued to notice a lady staying in the same complex as ourselves reading and smoking her way through the book (Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking) during our stay. It felt very strange seeing our book “in action”. It’s something, of course, which is normally impossible for us to see. Naturally, I didn’t make it known to the woman that I was involved in the worldwide publication of the book. I just noticed how each day she relaxed at the poolside reading the book, smoking whilst doing so, hoping to find out how to quit smoking easily. About half way through the holiday I noticed that she had stopped reading the book, having moved on to a Michael Connelly novel instead. I was thrilled to notice that she had indeed stopped smoking. She seemed very happy and, if anything, even more relaxed than before.

It was wonderful to see the easyway to stop smoking book in full action and although I am certain that she didn’t notice it, I hope that lady would forgive my understandable curiosity and interest in her holiday reading.

Stopping smoking is easy as long as you don’t try to ‘give up’ smoking. Once you understand the smoking trap you realise there really is nothing to give up. Quitting smoking on holiday, or just before, is a great idea. Why put it off until another time?

05 July 2011

Stop Smoking Clinic Documentary Filmed in London

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

It was wonderful to host a team of documentary makers working on a German/French TV production to our stop smoking World HQ in London last week. The film-maker team, who are creating a documentary about how to stop smoking, spent the day filming the easy way to stop smoking method being delivered to a group of volunteer clients. The clients were all smokers who had volunteered to be filmed whilst attending our quit smoking seminar.

We very much hope that by showing how we provide help to stop smoking more and more people will be inspired to become happy non-smokers rather than merely attempt to “give up” smoking (of course – a main point of Allen Carr’s Easyway is that there is nothing to “give up”).

It’s great to see our stop smoking clinics featured in a project like this which also aims to look at other methods of stopping smoking.

The film-makers were really friendly and professional, and Colleen Dwyer, the Allen Carr’s Easyway Therapist who took the seminar did a brilliant job (it’s so hard to operate normally while being filmed).

We’ve had this kind of filming occur many times over the years and it’s really important that the whole day is managed well. It’s easy for delays in filming to create real problems with the schedule, not only in the filming, but in the normal operation of the clinic. We never forget, regardless of the importance of the filming, our first concern is always with the smokers who trust us to maximise their chances of successfully stopping smoking.

Well done and thank you to the whole HQ team who worked so hard to ensure that the day of filming went as smoothly as possibly.

04 July 2011

Allen Carr's Easyway - International Conference 2011

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking therapists from every corner of the globe gather together for an amazing two days of discussion, deliberation, planning, and socialising. We didn’t manage to get everyone on this film – but we tried. We can’t wait for the next one! Roll on 9th, 10th, & 11th May 2012!

Youtube video

16 June 2011

The Support of Happy Non-Smokers

Here’s a wonderful email we received today which is a great example of the fantastic support we receive from happy non-smokers worldwide :

Hi,
I just wanted to say thank you for opening my eyes and empowering me with the techniques and information provided in your book, EASY WAY to Stop Smoking. Words can’t express my gratitude for this book and the gift that you’ve given me from reading it.

I’ve signed the petition for the UK NHS, being a UK citizen/Australian Resident.

I’ve also sent an email to my state Health & Tobacco Control department, asking them to promote your technique to help people quit. The email can be seen below, if you are interested in reading it.

Thank you again, and a million times more,

Kate L, Western Australia

————————————————————————————————————————

To: tcb@health.wa.gov.au Subject: Help people to quit properly!!! Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:14:47 +1030
To Whom it May Concern:
I’m writing this email to make a strong suggestion that will help thousands of smokers to quit, and stay quit, if you were to go ahead with it.

I’m sure that you’ve heard of Allen Carr’s EASYWAY to Stop Smoking. It’s a book, and a DVD, and a workshop that can be attended in stop smoking clinics all over the world.

I smoked for almost 12 years. I gave up through two pregnancies (smoking through pregnancies is terrible) with no quit aids, but returned each time. I’ve also quit for other reasons during that time, using different quit-smoking aids such as patches, nicotine gum, microtabs, etc. It all worked, temporarily.

The thing is, nicotine is an addiction, as I’m sure you well know. If a heroin addict wants to stop, do you help them by supplying them with heroin in a pill form? Why help ‘quitters’ by replacing the very drug they’re addicted to, with the same drug?

Anyway, my point is that I recently read Allen Carr’s EASYWAY to Stop Smoking. Not only was it an excellent resource, written by an ex-smoker, it has helped me to quit smoking, happily. I’m not frustrated, I don’t have ‘cravings’, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. In fact, I do what he says – I pity those who are still stuck in the smoking trap.

My suggestion is that you look at Allen Carr’s book; study it, if need be. Try it out on some people and see the results for yourselves, then recommend it to smokers, because it’s a technique that makes sense, and it actually works! It’s obvious to any smoker that the sale of cigarettes is just as important to the government financially – you can see that from the amount it’s taxed. Those gross ads on TV – they don’t bother us. In fact, they remind us to smoke, if we’re not doing it already. The disgusting warnings on the packets – they bother non-smokers more than us. Frightening us with heath risks isn’t going to make us stop. We didn’t start smoking because we wanted lung cancer, or heart disease – why would you think it would stop us?

If the government is really supportive and encouraging of people quitting smoking, and quitting for good, then you need to take different action. Please, start with this book. For people who can’t read, there’s the DVD. For people who feel like they need more, there are the workshops. If you really care more about the health of smokers, than you do about revenue from the sale of cigarettes, I think you’ll find a much higher success rate with this method of ‘quitting’.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for your time – and some thoughts on the idea would be great. If you haven’t read this far, well I guess it just proves what smokers already suspect.

Sincerely,

Kate 13 June 2011

So...is there really a ban on cigarette advertising?

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr's Easyway

OK - after my last blog which mentioned photos featuring cigarettes or smoking appearing in newspapers for no journalistic reason that I could identify I may have been prone to a little sensitivity on the subject...But, even bearing that in mind, the rest of my newspaper reading this week has left me feeling like some kind of whacko conspiracy theorist (and understand - my last blog and this blog have been based on no more than 7 days worth of reading one national newspaper per day). 01 January 2000

Page 4 of Thursday's edition of The Times delivered a smashing shot of the lovely Sienna Miller appearing on stage, in a play, smoking a cigarette. You'll also notice she is joined in the montage of photos by the writer Terence Ratigan, also smoking. Cigarettes and smoking are not remotely connected to the story. Page 4 of The Times? Hmmm.

I berated myself for my apparent paranoia and convinced myself that it is only because I am a stop smoking therapist that it seemed so strange. I turned to The Times "Summer of Speed - 12 page guide to the world's leading races" (again - this is Thursday's edition of The Times I am referring to). A retro shot of the Silk Cut cigarette brand's logo emblazoned on the Jaguar XJR-LM on page 11 had me think again.

Again I slapped my wrist for being so sensitive. Then I turn to page 2 & 3 (yes I read my newspaper backwards - go figure) to be confronted by no less than 3 clear images of the *Marlboro* cigarettes logo, one *Camel* cigarettes logo, and a *Gauloises* cigarettes logo (the Gauloises one is not shown in this cutting) in more retro pics of F1 racing cars and a weird model of the Monaco circuit (the latter featuring an advertising board trackside for *Marlboro* cigarettes. God bless anyone trying to quit smoking while reading their daily newspaper!

I briefly consider that maybe we should look into the cost of advertising our stop smoking books and stop smoking clinics on F1 cars - I'd certainly enjoy the track days! Monaco here I come!

Anyway I banished these examples of my pro-smoking images paranoia to the recycling bin deciding to conceal my apparent affliction. Then I read Friday's edition of The Times! The Arts section appears a few pages along from the kids part of the newspaper. This edition of The Arts section features a double page, colour spread, as an advertising feature (a collaboration between the newspaper and Currys/PC World stores), The feature presents the results of a photography competition.

The Times in conjunction with the sponsors asked readers to "make us smile with your photographs and video from the [public] holiday on April 29th". This was the day of the Royal Wedding, a national holiday, which spawned an epidemic of colourful street parties, beanos, BBQs, picnics, and all round feel-good fun across the country. Even an anarchist and anti-monarchist friend of mine begrudgingly considered the day full of fabulous fun and frolics.

The Times claimed "...the scale of the response [to the photography competition] had us open-mouthed".
Meaning no disrespect to the judges but I didn't think much of the first and second place photos. The third place photo caught my eye. The Times describes it thus "Take Barry Humbling's image of 'Kate Middleton' taking a cigarette break in Soho, which won him third prize...."
The photo was displayed on a right hand page, with the neon illuminated sign bearing the legend "Lovely Sexy Girls" nattily catching ones eye! I don't really know what to say about this photo of (apparently) a sex worker wearing a Kate Middleton mask, smoking a cigarette outside her place of work. Perhaps we should be leafleting the area with details of our corporate stop smoking service? Quite how The Times fell into accommodating a smoking image into this "fun" competition I can't imagine. I can also imagine that Kate Middleton isn't exactly happy to be portrayed (albeit in a fake way) as a poster girl for the cigarette industry. Maybe I should mock up a photo of her holding a copy of one of our stop smoking books?

The Times picture editor who chaired the judging panel for the competition writes "...a lovely satirical photograph; we had lots of pictures of people in Kate and William masks but somehow this one just has the edge". Ooooooooooooookay! I am not paranoid stop smoking therapist. I am not paranoid stop smoking therapist. I am not........ 27 May 2000

YSL IMHO SUCK IYKWIM!

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

We had our Annual International conference in sunny Surrey, England last week. It was so lovely to be joined by dedicated, loyal, hard working Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking people from every corner of the globe. They came from France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Cyprus, South Africa, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Mexico and even from Tahiti. More than 30 countries were represented. It was so energising to spend time with such enthusiastic and capable people bound together, striving for a common objective – to cure the world of smoking.

We cannot allow bad news to break our stride but we are certainly challenged by people who appear to have a vested interest in creating more smokers as quickly as we cure them.

An excellent feature in last weekends Telegraph newspaper which looked back on the impact on motor sport of the incredible racing driver, the late Ayrton Senna, was ruined for me by the images that accompanied the feature.

A new cinema release is scheduled for June simply titled “Senna”. There is no doubt that such a sporting icon is worthy of such posthumous attention but the brilliantly written piece in The Telegraph was blighted by several huge colour photos of Senna and his F1 car clearly bearing the legend “Marlboro”.
The men at Marlboro marketing must be beside themselves with joy. The newspaper coverage is priceless to them and no doubt the feature film will be another “Marlboro marathon”.

I am sure that the pun in the title of the newspaper article was unintentional “Senna – the driver who lit up Formula One” although one does wonder! I become less and less convinced that picture editors at some national newspapers don’t have some kind of weird pro-smoking agenda however.

See the feature and a clip of the feature film “Senna”. Can anyone count the number of appearances made by the Marlboro logo in the clip?

www.telegraph.co.uk 01 January 2000

My Saturday and Sunday newspapers seem to be frequently littered with photos of iconic figures brandishing cigarettes. Seldom does it seem to me necessary (or remotely relevant) to include a photo with a cigarette – yet they regularly feature.How about this for a front cover of The Times “Times 2” supplement this week.

In case you missed the gratuitous smoking on the front page – you get another opportunity with the centre spread.

To be honest with you – my view of Bob Dylan is that he was massively over rated – but I wouldn’t argue with his iconic status. I just don’t remember smoking being part of it! A quick check with Google presented hundreds of pictures of Bob – only a handful of them showing him smoking. Take a look for yourself:

www.google.co.uk/search?q=bob+dylan

It does make one wonder what the picture editors are thinking? It would surely be paranoid to consider that anything sinister is going on.

This kind of propaganda for the tobacco industry is priceless to them – the engagement with fashion house YSL to sell YSL branded cigarettes in Russia and Asia is unbelievable. Picked up by Marie Claire (Australia) they report it as follows:

“French fashion house Yves Saint Laurent has sparked controversy by marketing its line of cigarettes as “fashionable”.

Available exclusively in Russia and Asia, YSL reportedly claims its cigarettes “appeal to female vanity and thereby make the woman who chooses to smoke Yves Saint Laurent cigarettes more attractive than one who smokes another brand, or more attractive than a woman who does not smoke at all.”

The advertisement for the line features a model that closely resembles Kate Moss, who sparked debate in February when she appeared on the Louis Vuitton catwalk smoking a cigarette.”

What kind of greed motivates a brand like YSL to expand into this area of business? It’s sad to think that perhaps western society has become so apathetic that YSL will suffer no backlash from outraged loyal consumers of their products but I for one have poured my bottle of YSL L’Homme aftershave away and will now seek out a new scent that stinks a little less.

Smoking Sucks and we want to prevent a generation of kids from starting smoking. See how you can help by clicking this link

24 May 2011

Doctor, doctor...

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

It’s lovely to have some amazing endorsements from the medical profession. We do need more.

Sadly – although many GPs heartily recommend that their patients either read Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking book or attend one of our clinics – very few of them are happy to put their name to a written endorsement.
I’m not quite sure what they might be worried about. If they genuinely believe the method works why wouldn’t they be prepared to recommend it publicly beyond the privacy of their surgery walls. If they realised how encouraging their endorsement would be to people looking for help and that in doing so they’d be perhaps inspiring hundreds of smokers to make a life-saving choice would be such a huge and magical thing – I’m sure that they wouldn’t hesitate for a moment.
I suppose that we could pay doctors to endorse us in the same way that the pharmaceutical industry does. But that really wouldn’t be right would it?

If you are a doctor who recommends Allen Carr’s Easyway, or stopped smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway, or if you were recommended to use Allen Carr’s Easyway by a doctor (or any medical professional for that matter) why not ask them to contact us with their public endorsement for the method.

We want to change lives and change the way large sections of the medical and scientific establishment think about helping people to stop smoking. Smokers deserve a highly effective, drug-free, side effect-free, simple solution to their addiction. It’s essential that they have access to alternatives to pharmacological interventions.

Recent figures from the UK Government indicate that in spite of the hundreds of millions of pounds spent on England’s NHS smoking cessation programme – the success rate is under 8%. It’s important to note that even this success rate is less than compelling seeing as though most of those included will only have stopped smoking for 4 weeks and remain addicted to nicotine in the form of nicotine gum, nicotine patches, nicotine lozenges etc.

If you’re a doctor or a medical professional you can help. It’s time to save lives. It’s time for change. Please contact us on mail@allencarr.com

06 May 2011

Are Friends Electric? Electronic cigarettes

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

What fake hope is provided by electronic cigarettes? I can imagine how thrilled I’d have been as an 80-a-day smoker to hear about the apparent solution to my smoking problem. The “smoke anywhere safer” cigarette.

I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting anyone “smoking” these e-cigarettes which presumably means that they haven’t exactly become as popular as the marketers of the concept might lead you to believe.

Of course e-fags have been introduced at a time when the medical establishment appears confused as to whether nicotine is an addictive poison or a therapeutic medicine. As I write that sentence I feel the need to check whether I’ve somehow been beamed backwards in time to the middle ages; a time of witch burning and alchemy.

No doubt – the purveyors of nicotine (whether they be Big Tobacco or Big Pharma) have much to gain from the confusion that exists – even more so given that very little data exists regarding prolonged use of smokeless nicotine products.

I wonder how many years, or even decades, we’ll have to wait until someone emulates the late Prof Sir Richard Doll’s feat of nailing the truth about the harm done by smoking – or in this case – the harm done by nicotine. It took Doll decades to prove his point as he battled not just Big Tobacco but also large parts of the medical and scientific fraternity. Have we really taken a step back to the 1950s where Big Tobacco did and said whatever it liked?

Addiction to anything is abysmal. Someone once said “A life without freedom is a kind of death” and they were right! The control the slavery of a drug, the damage to self-esteem let alone the damage to the body, and piled upon that – the damage to relationships, families, friendships all of whom slide down the addict’s list of priorities in favour of their drug.

E-cigarettes aren’t the answer – they don’t even address the right question. Do you want to be an addict for the rest of your life? Your answer to that – will always be “No way!”

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking method is effective against e-cigarettes (or any form of nicotine addiction for that matter). Be free!

“The only way to deal with an un-free world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion” Albert Camus

27 April 2011

Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking in Argentina

Allen Carr’s Easyway are delighted to announce that a centre will be opening in Buenos Aires, Argentina in late 2011 (date to be confirmed). Watch this space for details of our Buenos Aires centre.

Allen Carr’s Easyway tiene el placer de anunciar la próxima apertura de su centro operativo ren Buenos Aires para la primavera del 2011. En esta página estaremos dando los detalles relacionados con la apertura; muchas gracias por su atención. Atentamente, Allen Carr’s Easyway Buenos Aires.

20 April 2011

It's only rock 'n' roll (but I like it)....

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

I absolutely love The Rolling Stones. How anyone could take The Beatles seriously while the stones were doing their stuff is beyond me. But even if you don’t care for the sound and the attitude – it can’t be denied that The Stones provided an endless array of iconic images over many decades. They were “Uber-iconic”.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards – two battling war-like tribal leaders constantly pushing and pulling in different musical and artistic directions. It was lovely to see Ronnie Wood and Bill Wyman use Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking method – may they rock and roll and party harder and for longer on the strength of it.

Having said that – it was very sad to see Keith’s autobiography in my local bookstore last weekend with the front cover emblazoned with that amazing battle-scarred face in the process of lighting a cigarette.

Is that really all you’ve got left Keith? Is the only picture worthy of adorning your book cover one that makes you look like a complete twit? Is “having a fag” the last bastion of the last wild man of rock and roll? What a radical, edgy, rebellious character you remain Keith – smoking on the cover of your autobiography. What next? Walking on the grass in spite of a “Keep of the grass” sign? Riding a bicycle without lights on it?

Lest anyone think that you are striking a blow against ninny nanny political correct types by standing up for your right to smoke whatever you like….I notice, presumably on advice from your publicist, that the cigarette you are lighting clearly has a filter and can therefore not be mistaken for something of a more – erherm – rebelliously herbal nature.

There was always so much more to you than the fags (or any of the other drugs you took liberally for that matter) Keith. Are you really just settling for remaining a poster boy for Big Tobacco? Did they choose the title “Life” to go with that image?

I guess that if the “lighting a cigarette” look is all you are left with Keith – then there is no doubt “It’s All Over Now”.

15 April 2011

Neve Campbell advocates Allen Carr's Easyway

Neve Campbell is best known for her most famous on-screen persona as the endangered heroine Sidney Prescott in the “Scream” movie series. She spent her time frantically fighting off knife-wielding maniacs in fright masks. After a 10-year break , she’s set to return for a fourth round of the comedy horror.


It’s lovely to hear her endorsement of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking method. She describes stopping smoking as her “greatest achievement”.

Speaking in the Irish Mail on Sunday she says -

“I took up the habit at 14 and smoked 30 a day. Every time I quit I thought about cigarettes constantly. Six years ago, Allen Carr’s book finally taught me to understand the chemical reaction that cigarettes triggered. I had to come to terms with the fact that a cigarette is a drug and I was an addict.”
She adds “And there’ll be no going back.”

12 April 2011

Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking in Peru

Allen Carr’s Easyway are delighted to announce that a stop smoking centre will be opening in Lima, Peru in 2011/12 (date to be confirmed).









08 April 2011

The Nicotine War is warming up!

British American Tobacco (BAT) has launched its latest counter-attack against the combined forces of the medical establishment, the scientific establishment, and Big Pharma (dare I describe them as a coalition).

BAT has announced the news that it aims to build a subsidiary company to peddle non-tobacco nicotine products that (it claims) could wean smokers off cigarettes.

According to www.FT.com Nicoventures aims to provide smokers with “a range of alternative products, currently unavailable on the market, that offer them the experience they expect to get from a cigarette but without the real and serious health risks of smoking”.

As Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation predicted a long time ago – the war between Big Tobacco and Big Pharma (aided by its medical/scientific establishment stooges) is set to rage on over the coming decades as both factions fight for a slice of the same nicotine addicted market.

With more than a touch of irony and tragic synergy – both sectors of the nicotine industry now appear to be touting the (claimed) benefits of continued (and most likely permanent) nicotine use.

Mischievously, British American Tobacco’s Nicoventures project quotes many of the medical, scientific, and smoking cessation glitterati on their website. Action on Smoking & Health (ASH) are amongst a host of so called experts who have lined up to support (to a greater or lesser extent) the sustained use of nicotine products as (and I still find it hard to even write these phrases) “medicinal nicotine” in the form of a “harm reduction” programme.

Of course – rather embarrassingly for ASH, its experts, and the medical/scientific establishment this “medicinal nicotine” is exactly the same ingredient that Nicoventures products will contain.

Nicoventures doesn’t miss a trick when it quotes the Royal College of Physicians calling for greater use of “harm reduction products”. John Britton, Chair, Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians appears to be a true fan of nicotine, claiming that we should be no more concerned with people popping daily doses of nicotine than we are about them taking daily doses of caffeine via their coffee cup.

In fact (not surprisingly) John Britton’s name appears liberally throughout the Nicoventures website singing the praises of the kind of nicotine products that – no doubt – BAT’s subsidiary is proposing. I’m not sure whether John Britton has become a poster boy simultaneously for Big Pharma AND Big Tobacco by design or by default. One can only ponder whether he has taking a shilling from one, the other, both, or neither.

Action on Smoking and Health almost fell over themselves supporting the Royal College of Physicians call for a “harm reduction programme” based on prolonged use of nicotine products.

Interestingly John Britton is also on ASH’s Board of Trustees. Is it not more than a little worrying to know that our policy on nicotine addiction appears to be driven by such closely linked and often overlapping groups of individuals?

It is also interesting to note that when ASH demanded that Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation subject the method to a “further study to establish its effectiveness” it was to John Britton’s door that we were directed. He estimated that the cost Allen Carr’s Easyway would have to pay for such a study (overseen by him) would be in the region of £250,000-£500,000. To commit to such a study run by someone so outspokenly in favour of (forgive my sarcasm) the wonders of nicotine would have been ridiculous but I dare say it has provided ASH with a convenient stick with which to beat us from time to time.

Britton and his cronies have gone as far as saying that nicotine has got a bad name and the real problem with nicotine patches and gum is that not enough people are using them. Really? In spite of the multi million pound marketing campaigns? In spite of the fact that they are prescribed free of charge in the UK? In spite of the fact that the end user is highly motivated to quit smoking and is, after all, addicted to nicotine?

Britton goes on to claim that those people that do use them – don’t use them for long enough, and the patches and gum prescribed simply don’t give the addict enough nicotine. Clearly, they claim, what those people attempting to escape addiction to nicotine really need is much, much, much more nicotine.

Nicoventures even quotes the exotically monickered “UK Government’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency” in support of their (and don’t forget Britton’s, and ASH’s, and the Royal College of Physicians) view that nicotine has been given an unnecessarily bad name.

It will be interesting to see how ASH, the medical, and scientific establishments react to BAT attempting to squeeze in on (their big buddy) Big Pharma’s ruse.

Of course – no-one really knows the effects of long term nicotine use and I fear that we are heading back towards the dark ages to a time where it took decades to prove the link between smoking and ill-health. Moreover, no-one appears to be counting the human cost of keeping people addicted; a condition that destroys self-esteem, controls addicts lives, and inflicts unnecessary crippling financial burdens on the addict’s family.

Is it not a tragedy of epic proportions that these so called smoking cessation experts continue to ignore Allen Carr’s Easyway; a method that has freed millions from the despair of nicotine addiction, has no side-effects whatsoever, and costs from as little as a packet of fags?

Like Big Pharma, Big Tobacco will continue to laugh all the way to the bank while the mainstream smoking cessation, medical, and scientific establishments – no doubt – will continue to feel so very, very pleased with themselves whilst failing to show the slightest interest in Allen Carr’s Easyway. Allen was right – it’s more than a tragedy – it’s a national and international scandal.

05 April 2011

Arlene Phillips endorses the Allen Carr's Easyway method

It’s lovely to see another endorsement for Allen Carr’s Easyway method in the Daily Express in the UK. Arlene Phillips, former Strictly Come Dancing judge and all round lovely lady talks about how Allen’s “Easyway To Enjoy Flying” book has helped her overcome her fear of flying.

“I’m not a good flier so I need to remind myself of things to do to calm myself beforehand. So I always take this with me to the airport. It’s full of little rules on how to relax before taking to the skies.”

It’s great to see such great feedback for a much underrated book which, even though little known, rates at 4.5 stars on Amazon. I remember Allen writing the book when I was a fledging therapist at the London Clinic. Even though Allen was a massive influence on me, and incredible mentor, and (let’s face it) he saved my life when I stopped smoking I am ashamed to admit to being a little bit sceptical about whether the method could be applied to the fear of flying. I’m even more embarrassed to admit that as I’d got a little older I’d developed a serious dislike of flying myself. Even up to the point that I started to read the finished book I felt sceptical – but to be honest – it really, really helped me.

It became very natural to apply the method to a whole host of addictions and issues. In print we have books that help people stop smoking, control weight, stop drinking alcohol, enjoy flying, and stop worrying, and the flagship clinic in London, UK, provides seminars that handle smoking (as do the 150+ centres in 45+ countries worldwide), but also weight control, alcohol, heroin, cannabis, prescription drugs, and other drugs. We have an ongoing publishing pipeline which includes books on handling these issues as well as many others. We’re busy applying the method to as many issues and addictions as possible.

Unsolicited endorsements by folks such as Arlene Phillips are so very much appreciated by us, they broadcast Allen Carr’s method to audiences who might otherwise never have come across it.

As for my fear of flying…the only thing that puts me off flying these days is the thought of my luggage going missing ;-)”

01 April 2011

Should I read Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking book or attend the clinic?

This is a question I am often asked and it appears to confuse many a smoker. It is not surprising.

On one hand the book has sold more than 13 million copies purely on the basis of word of mouth recommendation (apparently each copy of the book is read by several people so it is easy to estimate that the book has easily reached more than 30 million people in more than 45 countries). On the other hand – the clinics are the method in its original form, they provide free of charge back up sessions, telephone support, and a money back guarantee.

It is a frequent misconception that the book led to the live clinic seminars – yet the reverse is true. After he had successfully stopped smoking (following repeated failed attempts to quit over many years) Allen Carr helped many close friends to quit smoking using what he christened the “Easyway” method. More and more people sought out his help and eventually he was obliged to see people in groups rather than as individuals (such was the demand generated by the former smokers who had benefited from the method and recommended it to their friends).

Eventually, to cope with the demand for places on his sessions, he was obliged to see larger and larger groups of people. To accommodate more people he went from working in his own home to taking on commercial premises nearby – allowing him to see larger groups still.

At this stage he was working six, or sometimes seven, days a week and was still finding it hard to cope with the number of smokers seeking his help. It was this (as well as a desire to provide help for the few smokers who failed to stop following consultations with him) that moved him to write the book.

Allen Carr’s family and friends told him he was crazy. They argued – why would someone pay the (relatively) high price for his stop smoking consultations if they could obtain the book for just a few pounds? Regardless of this – Allen put his method onto the printed page and self-published the book (a rare thing to do in the 1980s). An inauspicious start for what has become the best selling stop smoking book of all time!

It was after treating several high profile celebrities that Allen was invited to appear on a popular national morning radio show. The book was mentioned and over the following weeks hundreds and hundreds of orders for the book were received (I can just imagine Allen and his lovely wife Joyce beavering away trying to pack and post thousands of copies of the book between his consultations). Of course the publisher Penguin soon took the book and less than 25 years later it had sold more than 13 million copies in 45 different countries.

So back to the question….the clinic or the book? I can only say that if my best friend smoked and wanted to quit smoking – I’d book him into an Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic. If he didn’t have access to one of our clinics I’d give him the book. That is not to sell the book short – it is an amazing stop smoking phenomenon in itself – it’s just clear that the live clinic sessions/seminars are the absolute gold standard means of using Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking successfully.

Some people are concerned that if they read the book without success – the clinics won’t work for them either. This is another misconception. The clinics deliver the method in a clear, dynamic, spoken form via our amazing teams of therapists spread across the globe from Los Angeles to Moscow, from Tokyo to Kiev, from Paris to London, from Milan to Mauritius. Not bad progress for the method discovered by a man with no medical qualifications who stubbed out his last cigarette and realised he could cure the world of smoking.

We’re not there yet Allen – but everyone at Allen Carr’s Easyway is working tirelessly to ensure that your legacy achieves its full potential; whether via the lips of the therapists you trained or via the written word – we’ll get there.

31 March 2011

The issue of copyright theft

We recently had this message posted on our Facebook page –

“where i can find free pdf of the only way to stop smoking ,does anyone know? i’ll be very thankfull if someone will send me a link”

And here was our reply –

Reply from the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway:

I think the world has moved into a pretty strange place when someone can talk so openly about copyright theft. Would someone post on this page “Does anyone know of somewhere I can get stolen books for free?” or “Does anyone know of a bookstore with zero security where I can find it easy to steal books?”

The willingness of otherwise honest and upstanding citizens to steal copyright material amazes me. They are normally the same kind of people who demand that a starving man stealing an apple should be sentenced to life in prison – yet they somehow ignore the enormity of their crime against art, creativity, commerce, and decency when they steal a book online as well as ignoring their actual crime against the laws of copyright.

Those people who continually steal in this manner never think of the families they are stealing from (yes Allen Carr’s Easyway employs many, many people, many of whom have families). They never think of the investment they are preventing in spreading the cure for smoking around the world. Editions of our books don’t magically appear in dozens of languages and our centres around the world aren’t supported by mere oxygen. How shameless are the book thieves?

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that someone who is yet to experience the magic of being freed by Allen Carr’s Easyway method might value the method so little that they would denigrate themselves by stealing it. Stealing from the very method that they hope will deliver them from a lifetime’s slavery to addiction. We provide a cure for smoking which costs the price of a few packs of cigarettes – you’d think it wouldn’t be beyond a person to retain their honesty and decency and commit to paying the price rather than become a common thief!

If you really have that little money Agnieszka, please accept my apologies for the tone of my reply, send me your address and I will send you a free copy of the book and pay the postage myself. I do this for anyone who tells us they genuinely cannot afford the book. Tragically I suspect this act of kindness will not stop you, or those like you, from stealing whatever other copyright material takes their fancy whenever they feel like it….and of course when this organisation and its like ceases to exist because of copyright thieves, who will be looking after those less fortunate than the rest of us?

As Jerry Seinfeld once said “A bookstore is one of the only pieces of evidence we have that people are still thinking”. What a shame it will be when they are all gone!

22 March 2011

Smoking Bans Still De Rigueur

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

News of further smoking bans/tightening of restrictions in Belgium indicate a complete lack of regard for something normally held so precious by the smoking cessation, medical, and scientific establishments – the application of evidence-based policy.

I’m not sure how those responsible for driving smoking cessation policy for the last decade sleep at night. Clearly the smoking bans haven’t worked (although no-one would argue against the need for them in order to protect the health of non-smokers in enclosed public places). One of the main benefits mooted by the supporters of smoking bans was that they would “de-normalise” smoking and therefore reduce the levels of smoking in young people. Given that smoking amongst youngsters is as popular as ever – this clearly hasn’t worked. As Allen Carr predicted – the bans have had very little effect (if any) on the level of smoking in the wider population – let alone amongst youngsters.

Allen Carr and Allen Carr’s Easyway were ostracized by the medical and scientific establishment when we lobbied against the smoking bans. Our view was (and remains) that it was more important to help smokers stop smoking than it was to ban smoking (the latter being fairly pointless without the former). A child whose parents smokes is far more likely to smoke than a child whose parents do not – therefore concentrating on effectively curing smokers as opposed to merely banning it would seem sensible to most.

Does it not seem strange that so called medical, quit smoking, and scientific experts should claim to be able to cure addiction to nicotine by prescribing the nicotine addict with errr….nicotine? Isn’t it even more mad that they’d be given the power and purse strings to spend hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer’s money on such folly? If you think that was mad…the same people, having seen the writing on the wall “nicotine won’t cure nicotine addiction you dummy” would, instead of acknowledging the error of their ways (and perhaps even taking the slightest notice of the worldwide success of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking) would now claim that nicotine products should not be used to cure smokers – but to keep them hooked to “a less harmful nicotine delivery device than cigarettes”. You couldn’t make this stuff up – yet this state of affairs remains entirely unchallenged by the media.

Talking heads from the UK’s Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), National Institute for Clinical Health & Excellence (NICE), the Department of Health, and the NHS Stop Smoking Service will fall over themselves with so called evidence supporting the positive effect of the smoking bans. What they won’t admit is that “quit rates” recorded by the NHS and much quoted by scientists and medical “experts” are based on a smoker having successfully stopped smoking for 4 weeks. They also won’t tell you how they calculate the number of smokers in the UK when in the last ten years the black market in illegally imported and counterfeit cigarettes has ballooned in proportions that can only be described as epidemic.

Any claimed reduction in the level of smoking in the UK can surely be dismissed when you look at the explosion in new retail outlets for contraband cigarettes; market stall holders, car booters, the man-down-the-pub, the supplier in the staff room at work. ASH claim that 10% of cigarettes smoked in the UK are now contraband. Does anyone have any idea how they know that? Others claim that contraband tobacco seized represents only 10% of all contraband that successfully makes its way into the country. How do they know that? The fact is that they don’t.

No-one has the slightest idea how many smokers continue to smoke in spite of the smoking bans and the “establishment” that has ignored Allen Carr’s advice for so long seems to have a very flexible view of what it considers “evidence-based policy” citing all sorts of half truths, theories, and finger-in-the-air guestimates as if they were hard facts.

They’ll carry on banning, they’ll carry on prescribing nicotine, and carry on ignoring a cure which costs no more than pack of cigarettes. And you’ll carry on paying.

You can read about the new/tightened smoking ban in Belgium here: www.independent.co.uk

17 March 2011

You've got to be kidding me?

From the desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr's Easyway
In a recent trading standards exercise in Cumbria, UK, just under 10% of shops tested sold a child cigarettes. However, Trading Standards claim to be "pleased the majority of off-licenses and shops, had passed the test."

How low have our expectations sunk in order for us to be "pleased" that only 10% of shops that were tested failed. Is this the same reaction with which we might greet news that merely 10% of our street corners are occupied by crack cocaine and heroin pushers, or that just 10% of houses in our street get burgled, or that just under 10% of people coming home from work get mugged each evening? All the latter examples are fictitious of course - it's a shame that the Trading Standards story is not.

Having said that - most youngsters are more than capable of obtaining anything from crack cocaine to heroin these days, regardless of where they live, so one wonders how much of a challenge obtaining cigarettes presents them anyway. Equally one wonders whether the proposed banning of colours and branding on cigarette packs will prove remotely useful. I suspect that the tobacco industry will find elegant solutions to overcome that in the same way they have tended to for decades. If anyone hadn't noticed, in spite of decades of apparently "successful" anti-tobacco action by so called experts, smoking amongst youngsters is still on the increase.

Read about the Trading Standards story here

16 March 2011

Singing star Michael Ball endorses Allen Carr's Easyway Clinics

Singing star Michael Ball gives a lovely endorsement to Allen Carr’s Easyway Stop Smoking Clinics in an interview with the Daily Express today:

“Eventually Emma and I went to an Allen Carr session and both of us stopped that day..That was about 5 years ago. I have never looked back. Not so much as a crafty puff. Neither has Emma”.

Although is can appear a little ‘gauche’ to flag up succesful celebrity clients – it remains a fabulous way of maximising the number of people who hear about the method and become inspired to try it out. There is no doubt that by talking about himself quitting smoking, especially admitting that previously he’d failed to stop smoking many times when using nicotine patches/gum/zyban (or for that matter – the Allen Carr’s Easyway book), he will have inspired many people to attempt to stop smoking again (hopefully with Allen Carr’s Easyway method). It’s not an exageration to say that he has probably saved many lives in doing so.

08 March 2011

WHO research reports increase in female smoking rates worldwide

The New Scientist today reports World Health Organisation (WHO) research claiming that as women in poorer countries become more liberated – the female smoking rates in those countries increase. Worldwide, men are generally five times as likely to smoke as women but as women become more empowered – their smoking rates are catching up or exceeding men’s, regardless of the country’s wealth.


Allen Carr’s Easyway comments –

There is no doubt that the tobacco industry is targeting women in developing countries where smoking rates amongst men are already high. Along with children, women are seen as a new area rife for exploitation by tobacco company advertising and marketing campaigns unbridled by anti-tobacco advertising legislation. It works. In some market the age at which children are starting smoking has reduced from 15 years old to 8 years old. There are few, if any (and little appetite for), stop smoking campaigns to encourage smokers to quit smoking.

Although Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking book and clinics work equally effectively for men and women, Allen Carr’s Easyway For Women To Stop Smoking has been a great hit with female smokers wanting something slanted specifically towards them (although strangely some boyfriends have picked up the book and read it and successfully stopped smoking also).

Our stop smoking clinic network is rapidly spreading throughout the world – this year we have clinics opening in many countries including Brazil, Ukraine, & Romania.

04 March 2011

Smoking to Stay Slim

Tragic research announced today reveals that lung cancer rates are higher in British women because they smoke to stay slim.



The rate of lung cancer deaths among British women (published in the Annals of Oncology journal) is the highest in Europe after many took up smoking to lose weight.
Researchers say it is three times higher than in Spain, the country with the lowest rate.
An estimated 15,632 women will die from lung cancer this year in the UK, up from 14,900 in 2007, according to a study published today. Lung cancer causes the most deaths from cancer in women in Britain.
Experts blame the epidemic on the fact women took up smoking in large numbers later in the 20th century than men – often in an attempt to control weight.

Allen Carr's Easyway comments -

The irony of it is that smoking doesn’t actually help control weight. Smokers wrongly assume that it does because they tend to gain weight when they attempt to quit. This occurs because using conventional methods of smoking cessation the smoker continues to feel deprived and therefore has a tendency to substitute food (normally sweets) in the place of cigarettes. Because Allen Carr’s Easyway is different and causes no feelings of deprivation (the smoker is happy to be free) those using the method tend not to gain weight. In fact we’re happy to guarantee that.

09 February 2011

Happy Non-Smoker's testimonials from Israel

Congratulations to the amazing Allen Carr’s Easyway team in Israel for an incredible film. Real people giving amazing testimonials about using the Allen Carr’s Easyway method to quit smoking. Thanks as always to the wonderful team in Israel for this fantastic film (and for the sub-titles).



31 January 2011

Obama Quits Smoking

The Daily Mail reports today that Obama has quit smoking.

With his political opponents making huge gains and the economy still faltering, it's been a difficult time for Barack Obama.



But the President has won one major battle - he has given up smoking, according to his wife Michelle. The First Lady says her husband has not smoked in almost a year, adding that she is very proud.
Mrs Obama made the comments in an interview at the White House Tuesday, adding that the President has always wanted to quit. He has talked about his struggles with nicotine addiction in the past, acknowledging in June 2009 that he still sneaked off for the occasional puff.
The White House last addressed the topic in December, when press secretary Robert Gibbs said he had not seen Mr Obama smoke in nine months, but he stopped short of asserting that he had quit. Speaking to CNN's State Of The Union at the time, Mr Gibbs said: 'It was a commitment that I think he made to himself at the end of the health care and with his two daughters in mind.'
He added that Mr Obama still chews Nicorette gum, but nine months was the longest time he had gone without smoking.
Mr Obama is sensitive about the habit and often short with reporters who raise it with him.

Allen Carr’s Easyway comments –

It’s great to hear that President Obama has stopped smoking – but less encouraging that he appears to remain hooked on nicotine gum – something which will make him more likely to eventually return to smoking.

Using these conventional methods of smoking cessation the smoker continues to feel deprived and the use of a substitute actually heightens and perpetuates the feeling of deprivation. Whilst that feeling remains – he will always be vulnerable to lighting up again, for example, at times of crisis and stress – which are never far away for any President. While he continues to believe that smoking helped him cope with stress – he’ll remain vulnerable.

Allen Carr’s Easyway is different and causes no feelings of deprivation (the smoker is happy to be free and doesn’t feel that they are giving up some kind of crutch or prop) therefore those using the method tend to be happy non-smokers and far less likely to return to smoking at times of stress.

11 February 2011

Smoke - The Convenient Truth

Evaldas at our Lithuanian centre brought this powerpoint presentation to our attention. It puts recent claims by Tobacco Control organisations (that smoking will die out by 2050) in perspective somewhat. Sadly.

More Celebrities recommend Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking

It is wonderful to hear that top UK comedian Michael McIntyre stopped smoking using Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking book. In his autobiography he writes humorously about his late father smoking and how he went on to be a smoker himself. He credits Allen Carr's Easyway with helping him quit and says "Giving up smoking was one of the biggest achievements of my life. I read Allen Carr's book and would recommend it to anybody trying to kick the filthy habit. In fact I've recommended it many times..."

What a lovely endorsement from Michael.

We've also had another great endorsement from actress Lisa Maxwell on Friday's Loose Women programme on ITV (UK). She called Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking book "The best self-help book ever written". Carole McGiffin added "It's a brilliant book".
Here is a link to the programme on ITV iPlayer.
The mention of Allen Carr's Easyway is discussed around the 28 minute mark for those of you who dont want to watch the whole programme.

10 January 2011

Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking organisation are delighted to present Smoking Sucks and The Game

Smoking Sucks is a guide for parents designed to advise them on the best way to prevent their children from starting smoking. The Game is a comic written by Allen Carr's Easyway's team of senior therapists and comic specialists producing an exciting, unpatronising, Manga-style presentation designed to explain how nicotine addiction works and how best to avoid becoming a victim of it.

Smoking Sucks & The Game is our attempt to prevent children from starting smoking rather than relying on merely curing smokers. Allen Carr always believed that if a youngster could understand how addiction works it would be a far more effective means of them avoiding the smoking trap than any scare tactics or stern lectures about health.

Feel welcome to download both publications FREE OF CHARGE here (the download may take up to 60 seconds) -

Smoking Sucks! Introduction and Parent Guide
The Game comic

Allen Carr's Easyway intends to do it's best to help as many smokers as possible (to date entirely unsupported by the UK government, Department of Health, NHS, Action on Smoking and Health, or QUIT). So far we have books published and clinics operating in more than 45 countries with more than 12 million books sold and tens of millions of smokers benefiting from the method.

*If you smoke - that's your business, if you want to stop smoking - that's our business.*

22 December 2010

Allen Carr's Easyway joins forces with Captain Cash

Allen Carr’s Easyway has joined forces with the News of the World's Captain Cash to offer NOTW readers a £50 discount off an Allen Carr's Easyway session at any of our UK clinics.

The offer - celebrating England's involvement in the World Cup - will last for the duration of England’s stay in the tournament.

To book your session call your nearest clinic on 0800 389 2115 or find your nearest clinic by clicking here.

Please quote ‘Captain Cash' when booking your session. Not valid in conjunction with any other offer or promotion.

Anjelica Huston talking about her experience at Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminar

"Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking Program achieved for me a thing that I thought was not possible - to give up a thirty year smoking habit literally overnight. It was nothing short of a miracle.” *Anjelica Huston talking about her experience at Allen Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminar.*

What happens at our Stop Smoking Clinics?

Click this link to see a short video about what happens at an Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic.
Click here for your nearest UK Clinic or call 0800 389 2115
Click here and check the flags to find your nearest clinic outside the UK.

Is this government’s smoking cessation strategy working?

An opinion piece by Robin Hayley, CEO Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking
www.allencarr.com

In a word: NO!

For more than a decade so-called Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) such as nicotine patches & gum have been at the forefront of the government’s smoking cessation strategy, closely followed by advertising restrictions and bans on smoking in public places. One might think that after spending hundreds of millions of pounds on these initiatives, we should now be winning the battle.

So, how has it been going?

In spite of the multi-million pound fanfare which heralded the smoking ban on 1st July 2007 there has been "no significant difference" in the proportion of people smoking as a result of it.
The figures presented in data from the Health Survey for England, a report from The NHS Information Centre, involved questioning almost 5,000 adults about smoking.
The study found there was a similar percentage of smokers in England before the July 1 ban as afterwards.
Researchers examined the results for thousands of people interviewed before the ban with those questioned after July 1.
A total of 23% of men and 21% of women said they were "current smokers" before the ban, increasing slightly to 24% of men and 21% of women afterwards.
The average number of cigarettes smoked each day also did not fall significantly, the report said.
Men aged 35 to 54 smoked one-and-a-half cigarettes fewer per day on average after the ban, while men aged 55 and over smoked about three fewer. However, young men aged 16 to 34 actually smoked more cigarettes after the ban - around one-and-a-half cigarettes per day more.
Such differences were not noticed among women.
However, the report claimed there may have been some important changes in the amount smoked by the public…whatever that means!

www.ic.nhs.uk

So the government’s smoking cessation strategy is clearly not working. Why not?

Well, it doesn’t require much intelligence to realise that NRT cannot cure nicotine addiction. You can’t cure an alcoholic by giving them alcohol intravenously, you can’t cure someone addicted to smoking heroin off tin foil by getting them to inject it, and you can’t cure smokers of nicotine addiction by giving them nicotine. Nevertheless, NRT has formed the cornerstone of the government’s attempts to address the smoking problem. The fact that the pharmaceutical industry could afford to conduct enough studies to ensure that at least some of them achieved an encouraging result, while carefully disposing of the many that did not, has been overlooked.

Many of those who championed NRT as an aid to quitting are now backtracking. Nicotine, they argue, should now be administered to addicts, not as a means of quitting the drug, but merely as a “safer alternative” to smoking. So, the objective of nicotine treatment is soon to become a long term (in other words lifelong) maintenance programme with a variety of nicotine products provided for addicts to use for the rest of their lives. Allen Carr’s Easyway has consistently stated that NRT is a misnomer. Nicotine is not being replaced, it is being maintained and there’s nothing therapeutic about that. It should be called Nicotine Maintenance Treatment. Recent developments have simply confirmed this view.

The Independent newspaper in the UK reported earlier this year that the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) have called for “safer nicotine delivery systems/products to be made more widely available to replace cigarettes.”

Professor John Britton, chief author of the RCP report states: "The ideal product would be a nicotine inhaler like an asthma inhaler, that delivers a hit of nicotine as close as possible to the experience of smoking a cigarette.”

Whilst dismissing future daily use of nicotine on a permanent basis as being of no more concern than current use of caffeine, Britton goes on to say: "If these people [smokers] can be encouraged to use a safer product instead, the impact on public health would be huge. If we end up with a society in which a lot of people use a safe nicotine product every day, so what?"

Source : www.independent.co.uk/life-style

Let’s ignore the fact that nicotine is itself a poison which causes tremendous harm and that little is known about the effects of long term use of these so-called “safer nicotine delivery systems”. Let’s also ignore the fact that drug addiction is classified as a disease in itself by the scientific and medical establishments and is hugely damaging both physically and psychologically, not only to addicts but also to their families. Let’s also ignore the fact that tobacco companies and pharmaceutical companies are now simply competing for the multi-billion dollar a year nicotine market. Instead, let’s confront the subject which none of the policy makers wants to talk about: that a cornerstone of the government’s smoking cessation strategy (NRT) has failed. You can’t cure addiction to nicotine by giving the addict nicotine.

Allen Carr always maintained that restricting advertising would have little effect. Youngsters don’t start smoking because of advertising but simply because other people around them are doing it. Smokers don’t continue smoking because of advertising but because they are addicted to nicotine. The advertising bans have been useful to an extent but without an effective means of curing smokers they were always likely to be impotent. Parents who smoke are the most influential advertisers of tobacco to the next generation of smokers.

Smoking bans are spreading around the world like wildfire and there is no doubt that they protect the health of non-smokers in the workplace and public places. But have they, at least, been a successful part of the smoking cessation policy?

The report from The NHS Information Centre indicates not and it verifies the results from one of the pioneers of smoking bans, Ireland.
Earlier this year, The Irish Examiner newspaper reported that since the introduction of the smoking ban nearly three years ago, smoking levels have actually increased in Ireland. This was indicated by a national study of Irish health and lifestyles by the Department for Health.

Source:www.archives.tcm.ie

Interestingly neither study has been widely reported but it is since the Irish study that a passion for safer nicotine delivery systems appears to have developed amongst the medical and scientific establishments. NRT has failed, restricting advertising has failed and smoking bans have failed, so the policy makers are resorting to a strategy of feeding addicts their drug on a lifelong basis and therefore perpetuating drug addiction at taxpayers’ expense. The only winner here is Big Pharma which sells NRT and the tobacco companies who are currently buying companies that already provide a variety of nicotine products.

The cost of this failed strategy should be measured not only in the hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ pounds spent on the folly, but in the continuing misery of those who remain slaves to nicotine and in countless lost lives as well.

Allen Carr’s Easyway has always clearly stated that NRT cannot help cure nicotine addiction and that advertising restrictions and smoking bans would not achieve the desired reduction in smoking populations. To do that, smokers need to be provided with an effective method of stopping. Unfortunately, although such a method has now existed for over 25 years, successive governments have so far failed to do that.

The government, Department of Health, the NHS, and the medical and scientific establishment clearly do not know what they are doing. Isn’t it time they consulted an organisation which does?

Robin Hayley is CEO of Allen Carr’s Easyway. He oversees a global network of stop smoking clinics in over 40 countries and Allen Carr’s book, The Easyway To Stop Smoking, has been translated into more than 40 languages and has sold more than 10 million copies in over 50 countries worldwide.

For details of Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics and books visit www.allencarr.com

Andy Scott-Lee quits with Allen Carr's Easyway

Andy Scott-Lee talks to the Daily Goss about quitting smoking at Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinic in London.

To listen to the interview with Andy Scott-Lee click on this link

Smoking Ban Anniversary

Smoking Ban Anniversary On the eve of the latest cigarette tax hike in the USA, 22 New Yorkers gathered at the Belvedere Hotel to participate in an Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking Seminar. They smoked throughout the seminar and smoked a final cigarette together as the seminar concluded.
See this link for the butts from each attendee’s final drag....

Press Release June 4th 2008 : Allen Carr's Easyway & Ubisoft

PRESS RELEASE: Allen Carr's Easyway & Ubisoft

Ubisoft to Bring Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking to Nintendo DS in November 2008

London, England – June 4th 2008 – Ubisoft has announced that it will develop and publish the video game based on the successful Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking method. Designed for the Nintendo DS, Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking is scheduled for release in November 2008.

The book, Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking, is an international best-seller that has been published in 50 countries and Allen Carr’s Easyway network of clinics spans the globe. Over 10 million smokers worldwide have already turned to Allen Carr’s Easyway books, clinics or DVD in order to stop smoking. The method removes the smoker’s belief that smoking provides them with any genuine pleasure or crutch, takes away the feeling of deprivation and therefore rids the smoker of the fear of stopping. The clinics offer a full money back guarantee based on which the success rate after 3 months is over 90% and independent scientific studies confirm a success rate of over 50% after 12 months.

Brought to an exciting interactive platform, the Nintendo DS, the delivery of Allen Carr’s Easyway method will take on a whole new dimension. Players will be actively participating in the game’s content as they input the details of their smoking habits and even select their own Allen Carr’s Easyway coach to take them through the process of quitting.

Developed in conjunction with Allen Carr’s top experts, the game echoes the philosophy of Allen Carr’s Easyway method, enabling players to be entertained, challenged and to stop smoking at the same time.

“Ubisoft’s creative team has worked hard to deliver a game that successfully communicates Allen Carr’s Easyway method via play,” said Christian Salomon, vice president of worldwide licensing at Ubisoft. “The player experiences a truly interactive engagement with the game through which he or she learns that it can actually be enjoyable to quit smoking.”

Robin Hayley, managing director of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking, concurs. “There was an amazing synergy between Allen Carr’s Easyway team and Ubisoft as we worked on this project,” he said. “Our experts worked hand in hand with the Ubisoft team to create an entertaining and illuminating game that delivers Allen Carr’s Easyway method in a new, dynamic and highly effective way.”

Book copyright © Allen Carr’s Easyway (International) Limited, 1985, 1991, 1998, 2004.

© 2008 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified line-up of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 25 countries and sales in 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2007-08 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €928 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com

About Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking
Allen Carr, a chain smoker for 33 years, successfully quit in 1983. He realized he had discovered a method which could enable any smoker to stop easily, painlessly and permanently and embarked on a mission to cure the world of smoking. What started as a one man crusade quickly developed into a global organisation with a world class reputation and a network of clinics in over 40 countries, with publishing interests in more than 50. Allen Carr’s Easyway organisation is proudly ensuring that Allen Carr’s legacy achieves its full potential. To learn more, please visit www.allencarr.com

Press Release 29th May 2008 - Under the counter sales of cigarettes

PRESS RELEASE 29th May 2008 : UNDER THE COUNTER SALES OF CIGARETTES

The Secretary for Health, Alan Johnson, is set to publish his proposals designed to curb smoking among young people.

The key measures which will be introduced include:

Banning sales of cigarettes over the counter Banning cigarette vending machines Banning packets of ten cigarettes
Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking comments as follows:

Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking have asserted for years that you cannot cure addiction to nicotine by giving the addict nicotine (ref nicotine patches/gum/NRT etc).

We have also advised for years that although a ban on smoking in public places was necessary in terms of protecting employees from the effects of passive smoking in the workplace, it would do little to reduce the number of people smoking in the short to medium term. To achieve that, a more successful stop smoking programme is required as an alternative to NRT.

Both assertions appear to have been vindicated by the Department of Health in Ireland announcing that the rate of smoking has increased in the Republic since the smoking ban was introduced 3 years ago. NRT and other pharmaceutical interventions continue to be all that has been offered to smokers who want to quit. It doesn’t appear that the government and medical establishment’s approach to the smoking problem is working…does it?

It is a shame that the smoking ban’s likely reduction in the prevalence of youngsters starting smoking because it is no longer seen as part of a "night out" may be countered by the perceived lure of "smoking zones/areas” outside of bars, pubs, and nightclubs and the ever higher prominence of smoking on the streets (outside offices, shops, airports etc). Furthermore the smoking ban appears to have increased the level of smoking in the home regardless of whether children are present. This all does little to combat the problem of youth smoking.

Everyone knows that many youngsters can find appeal in taboo activities and the "smoking zone lure" combined with cigarette sales being made only "under the counter" might fuel the taboo aspect of smoking further and therefore be counterproductive.

Banning cigarette sales in vending machines, making packs of 10 cigarettes history, and selling cigarettes under the counter might be a good idea in spite of the above, but given many 12-15 year olds seem perfectly capable of EASILY purchasing cannabis, marijuana, cocaine, & heroin from any number of sources Allen Carr’s Easyway do not believe that obtaining cigarettes will prove too much of an obstacle for them. Do you? Presumably Alan Johnson's department hasn’t considered this. To call their approach "naive" would be a huge understatement.

Added to this - the government appears to be unable to control the illegal sale of cigarettes to youngsters over the counter – let alone under the counter.

The way to prevent youngsters falling into the nicotine trap is simply through example & education and we don't just mean that they should be told "smoking kills" or shown photographs of smoker’s lungs. By education we mean that it should be possible to explain to youngsters how addiction to nicotine (or any drug for that matter) occurs. How the addict is lured into thinking that they cannot get addicted and that this forms the main part of the trap. If we can explain to children what is involved in the process of becoming addicted we can avoid youngsters falling for the trap themselves. This is what we have attempted with Smoking Sucks.

By "example" we mean that reducing the number of adults that smoke will automatically make it less likely that their children will start. It is not always the case – but it is accepted that parental smoking is a powerful trigger for youngsters who take up smoking. This brings us back to our original assertion. Smokers need an alternative to the failing smoking cessation programme available to them via the NHS.

The Government, Department of Health, & NHS have consistently refused to meet with Allen Carr’s Easyway. Do their policies to help smokers quit smoking appear to be working to you?

Press Release 20th May 2008 : Number of smokers increases in spite of smoking ban

Number of people smoking increases despite ban!!!

This story in The Irish Examiner newspaper was reported on the ASH News Service recently.

Surprisingly – it has not been widely reported in the UK media or addressed by ASH or the Department of Health in the UK.

Allen Carr’s Easyway have always maintained that although the smoking ban might have been essential to protect worker’s health from the effects of passive smoking it simply was not going to have the desired impact on smoking levels. To do that, smokers need to be treated with respect and provided with an effective means of stopping smoking as an alternative to the failing NHS Stop Smoking Service.

So far the government, Department of Health, and NHS have refused to meet Allen Carr’s Easyway organization. John Dicey, Worldwide Director of Allen Carr’s Easyway comments

“I would hope, that with the anniversary of the smoking ban in England fast approaching (July 1st), investigative journalists will look into the findings of this report by the Irish Department of Health and start to ask questions of our own Department of Health”.

Allen Carr’s Easyway To Stop Smoking also celebrates an anniversary in July. It will be 25 years since the discovery of the method that has cured an estimated 10 million smokers in 40 countries.

Report from ASH News Service:
Despite the introduction of the smoking ban nearly three years ago, smoking levels have increased in Ireland, according to a national study of Irish health and lifestyles. The SLÁN research on attitudes to health and nutrition found 29% of the country smoke compared with 27% five years ago.

Anti-smoking lobbyist ASH Ireland has, as a result, called for a 50 cent increase in the cost of cigarettes, the removal of all smoking advertising from shops and a huge investment in educating young people on the health risk of tobacco usage.

Reacting to the findings regarding smoking levels Professor Luke Clancy of ASH Ireland said he was concerned the study showed that 56% of women, aged 18-29 and from the two lowest socioeconomic brackets, were smoking. “Close to 7,000 people die from tobacco use in this country each year and billions of euro are expended by our health services in treating tobacco-related illness. The findings of this survey are a wake-up call for Government. The fight against tobacco is far from over — there is much more to do,” he said.

Link to www.archives.tcm.ie

Press Release 15th May 2008 – Asthma, Smoking & Suicide

We're not surprised that it's happened - but we are surprised at the speed with which it has...

A few short months after use of quit smoking pill Champix/Chantix was allegedly linked to suicides/suicidal thoughts a "scientific study" has "appeared" seeming to link Smoking and Asthma to......suicidal thoughts.

If there are any budding investigators out there who can link this study (reported in Science Daily 13th May 2008 although it is not based on a clinical study) to the pharmaceutical companies that produce Champix/Chantix - we would love to hear from them.

No doubt we can expect more studies which imply a link between "Smoking and Suicide/Suicidal thoughts" & "Quitting Smoking and Suicide/Suicidal thoughts" over the coming year (to support the Champix/Chantix manufacturer’s and medical/scientific establishment’s view that the treatment is safe).

The fact is that it is easy and safe to stop smoking with Allen Carr’s Easyway yet the medical & scientific establishment continue to ignore it.

This was reported by the ASH Daily News Bulletin on 15/05/08:

*Smoking associated with asthma and suicidal behaviour* Asthma is associated with higher suicidal thoughts with attempted suicide, but does not seem to be linked with suicidal thoughts without attempts, according to a new report.

Diana E. Clarke, MSc, PhD, The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, and colleagues noted that cigarette smoking and concurrent mental health conditions may independently account for significant proportions of the association between asthma and suicidal thoughts with attempts.

There is growing evidence of relationships between respiratory diseases and suicidal behaviours, but investigators say this is the first study to examine the association between asthma and suicidal thinking with and without attempts using a nationally representative sample of adults. They also note it is the first study to investigate the potential role of cigarette use and nicotine dependence in the association of asthma and suicidal behaviour.

The study examined data on 5,692 individuals 18 years and older from the US National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Approximately 12 percent of the sample had a history of asthma. The estimates of lifetime prevalence for suicidal ideation without and with attempts and asthma were 8.7 percent, 4.2 percent and 12.0 percent, respectively, and occurred more frequently in women that men. Despite adjustments for cigarette smoking, concurrent mental health conditions and common sociodemographic factors, a statistically significant association remained between asthma and suicide thoughts and attempts. Investigators suggest that asthma may be associated with the more severe form of suicidal behavior, but not the milder forms of suicidal thoughts without attempts Source: Science Daily, 13 May 2008 Link www.tinyurl.com

Eastenders Star Quits Smoking at ACE's Clinic

Former Eastenders star, Carol Harrison, was featured on FIVE NEWS. They sent her to an Allen Carr's Easyway Clinic to stop smoking and another 2 smokers used willpower and nicotine patches. See if you can tell who used the patches and who attended an Allen Carr's Easyway Clinic...

Click here to watch the clip.

Study Links Genes To Nicotine Addiction

A study released this week indicates that there may be a gene that predisposes certain people to nicotine addiction and developing cancer.

Whilst it is believable (and probably true) that there may be a genetic predisposition towards developing cancer and other illnesses - the assertion that some people are genetically predisposed to becoming addicted to nicotine (or anything else) is a red herring.

What constitutes an addiction?

An addiction is generally held to be characterized by an inability to stop engaging in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences to the individual's health, mental state and/or social life. The term is most frequently used in connection with drug addictions but it is sometimes also applied to other compulsions.

At Allen Carr’s Easyway we take this definition a stage further. Simply abstaining from such activity is not enough; the addict needs to be free from the desire to engage in it in order to be completely free from the addiction. We believe, for example, that it’s not enough simply to stop smoking, the ex-smoker also needs to have removed their desire to smoke otherwise they will continue to suffer the mental tug of war of all addicts. Part of the addict’s brain is telling them: “It’s killing me, costing me a fortune and controlling my life”, while another part is saying: “How can I cope with or enjoy life without my little pleasure or crutch”.

At Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, attendees start their speeches by saying: “My name’s X. I’m an addict”, although they may not have touched the drug concerned for years. Not surprising since AA and NA claim that addiction is an incurable disease. Of course our view is far less pessimistic (and as we know - true); provided that the individual stops taking the drug and that their desire to take it has been removed, then they are truly cured of their addiction, they are free. That is what Allen Carr’s Easyway is all about.

Why me? Why are some people more susceptible to addiction?

Some people believe they have some form of genetic predisposition to addiction or an addictive personality. Some scientists even claim to have discovered particular genes which they believe to be responsible.

This is in line with the theories of AA and NA and is nonsense. In the early 20th century, around 90% of UK adults were nicotine addicts. Does that mean that 90% of the population had an addictive personality/genes and the other 10% didn’t? According to recent research, 74% of people who smoke two cigarettes or more will become regular smokers. Does this mean that they all have addictive personalities whereas the other 26% don’t? Of course not.

Whether an individual who takes an addictive drug goes on to become an addict is not determined by their genes but by a combination of other factors. Some people are put off smoking for life by the foul taste of their first cigarettes. It takes willpower to persevere and some people just can’t be bothered. Some find their bodies can’t tolerate the poisoning. It’s also been established that children of addicts have a higher chance of becoming addicts themselves but this is not because of their genes but because the children are exposed to drugs early and taking them seems normal. It is nurture and not nature that causes potential predisposition to addiction.

What to do? Ways to beat addiction

Whether it be addiction to nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, heroin, cocaine, or performance enhancing or prescription drugs, the key to freedom is to understand how the addiction works.

Allen Carr’s Easyway Clinics and books take around 5 hours to explain to smokers, problem drinkers, and people with weight problems how to be free and the method has also been successfully applied to cannabis, cocaine, and heroin.

Addicts fear that they won’t be able to cope with or enjoy life without their drug, that they’ll have to go through a terrible trauma to get free and that maybe they’ll never get completely free from the craving. These fears drive the addiction and it is these fears which Allen Carr’s Easyway removes. The key is to remove one side of the mental tug of war by enabling the addict to realize that they are not making any sacrifice by quitting. This does not simply mean that the disadvantages of taking the drug outweigh the advantages, this means that there are no advantages: no genuine pleasure, no genuine crutch.

The addict needs to understand that having taken the first fix of a drug, the physical withdrawal as the drug leaves the body creates an empty, insecure feeling. When another fix is taken, that empty, insecure feeling is temporarily reduced, the addict feels less unrelaxed and experiences the illusion of a pleasure or a crutch. In reality all the addict is “enjoying” at that moment is feeling how they felt before they took the first fix. It’s like wearing tight shoes just for the relief of taking them off.

The difficulty in kicking any drug is not the physical withdrawal but the mental feeling of deprivation. No pills, patches or potions can address that. Allen Carr’s Easyway method successfully removes it which is why it has become so popular all over the world.

Regardless of what studies might imply - Allen Carr's Easyway rejects the claim that some smokers (or any other addicts) have a genetic predisposition to addiction.

We offer our money back guarantee to all smokers - regardless of their genes...

Our Clinics in London & Birmingham also offer seminars relating to alcohol and weight issues.

Press Release 08/02/08 NICE relying on flawed data

During correspondence with the National Institute for Clinical Health and Excellence (NICE) on the subject of Allen Carr’s Easyway being specifically excluded by NICE from use by the NHS in the Draft Guidelines for Smoking Cessation issued last year, it became clear that NICE and the rest of the medical establishment, including public health charities ASH and QUIT, are insistent that Allen Carr’s Easyway should conduct a lengthy and hugely expensive Randomized Controlled Trial before being considered for use by the NHS.

NICE has claimed that the vast body of evidence submitted to it demonstrating the popularity, success and effectiveness of Allen Carr’s Easyway method, including two independent studies (*1) conducted by eminent scientists and experts in the field of smoking cessation both of which have been published in peer review journals, is not enough. In particular it has claimed that the two studies are not scientifically robust enough to be accepted as evidence of effectiveness.

NICE and the Government point to the NHS Stop Smoking Service as being a world leader in the field in spite of its appalling success rates which are achieved at enormous cost, financial and human. Everyone, apparently apart from the Government and NICE, knows that the NHS service is not working. Even Robert West, one of its original architects and a former ardent supporter, has admitted “We have lost our way”.

We asked NICE to list the Randomized Controlled Trials they rely on to support their endorsement of the NHS Service. THERE AREN’T ANY!

Instead NICE referred us to the following:

“The cost-effectiveness of the English smoking treatment services; evidence from practice” Godfrey et al Addiction 100 (suppl 2) 70-83

NICE has used this paper to validate its continued endorsement of the NHS Stop Smoking Service, but it is fundamentally flawed.

Allen Carr’s Easyway asked an acknowledged expert in the field of assessing such papers, Dr Anil Visram BSc MB BCh FRCA, to review it and compare it, in terms of robustness, to the two published studies on Allen Carr’s Easyway method (*1) and to review and comment on NICE’s draft guidance in relation to Allen Carr’s Easyway.

We have already asked NICE if the same rigorous tests of reliability had been applied to Godfrey et al as has been applied to evidence supporting Allen Carr’s Easyway.

From Dr Visram’s report, it is clear that little, if any, confidence can be had in Godfrey et al and that a considerably higher degree of confidence can be had in the two studies of Allen Carr’s Easyway method already published in peer review journals but dismissed by NICE.

Allen Carr’s Easyway is not seeking special favours or preferential treatment from NICE. We do however expect a level playing field. It is quite clear that NICE is not currently delivering that. It is inconsistent and inequitable to say that the studies we have submitted are not good enough, yet at the same time rely on other studies which are significantly less scientifically robust.

Summary/Key Points of Dr Visram’s Report:

Regarding: Godfrey et al (2005) The cost-effectivness of the English smoking treatment services: evidence from practice. Addiction, Volume 100, Issue s2

This is the paper that NICE claims supports the NHS stop smoking services. * The quality of the evidence in this paper is considerably weaker than the quality of the evidence in the two papers (*1) showing a far higher success rate for Allen Carr’s Easyway method. * One particular concern with the paper is the method by which the primary outcome was measured; a questionnaire filled in by the coordinators of the NHS smoking cessation services. * It is not possible to have confidence in data collected in this way as it is too subject to bias. It is no different from simply asking Allen Carr’s Easyway smoking cessation coordinators what their success rate is. * It would be astonishing if this paper were deemed by NICE to be of higher quality evidence than the two papers relating to Allen Carr’s Easyway.

Summary of Dr Visram’s General Comments regardin NICE Draft Guidelines:

* NICE quote studies of by Jonathan Foulds. I have had great difficulty accessing these studies but if, as I have been informed, they are based on two very small samples of 19 patients in one case and 50 in another, that is clearly not enough to reach a sensible conclusion about the effectivness of Allen Carr’s Easyway method. * I am very surprised indeed that NICE recommends the NHS Stop Smoking Services given that the evidence presented for their effectiveness is so weak and yet specifically names Allen Carr’s Easyway as not recommended despite all the evidence supporting it. * There is no necessity for Allen Carr’s Easyway to be subjected to the same rigorous analysis as pharmaceutical interventions since there are no side effects and it is harmless and risk-free. * It seems perverse for the Government and NICE to claim that they are expanding the variety of help available to smokers wanting to quit and giving patients more choice on the NHS and yet at the same time bar Allen Carr’s Easyway which is clearly a very popular and, on the evidence that I have reviewed, also a very effective method of stopping smoking particularly when compared with the alternatives.

End of Summary/Key Points

We very much hope that NICE’s final guidance will reflect the concerns we have raised both in our correspondence and in our formal response to the draft guidance and that the designation of Allen Carr’s Easyway as “not recommended” will be changed. Should that not happen, Allen Carr’s Easyway will be forced very seriously to consider taking legal action via a judicial review.

(*1) 1) Hutter HP et al. 2006. Smoking cessation at the workplace: one year success of short seminars. Int Arch Occup Environ Health (2006) 79:42-48. 2) Moshammer H and Neuberger M 2007 Long term success of short smoking cessation seminars supported by occupational health care. Addict Behav DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.10.002.

Smoking Sucks - Prevent your child becoming a smoker

Smoking Sucks! is a unique tool for parents and teachers which provides expert advice on how to steer young people away from smoking. It explains why the most commonly used approaches don't work and provides one that does.

Smoking Sucks! contains a cleverly designed and powerful pull-out comic called THE GAME for children to read. Written by stop smoking experts at Allen Carr's Easyway and illustrated in the popular manga style, THE GAME gets the anti-smoking message across in a way that kids understand and enjoy and therefore respond to positively. Readers can find out more about the main characters in the story as well as quizzes and games at www.smokingsucks.co.uk

Allen Carr's Easyway method is world-renowned for having helped millions of people quit smoking. In an innovative and effective way, Smoking Sucks! applies this successful formula to the issue of children smoking.

Smoking Sucks! is an indispensable aid to ensuring that young people remain happy, healthy, and smoke-free.

To buy a copy of SMOKING SUCKS which includes the comic THE GAME Click here

VIRGIN Tribe Discount

Sir Richard Branson has sent many of his friends and staff along to Allen Carr's Easyway Clinics and we have an ongoing programme in the UK with Virgin staff.
Click here to see what Sir Richard has to say about Allen Carr's Easyway Clinics.

Allen Carr's Easyway Clinics Feature in BBC's REAL STORY

Allen Carr's Easyway To Stop Smoking Clinics were featured as one of the methods chosen to help staff at a Chester Hospital quit smoking. We were the only method featured which enabled a member of staff to stop smoking completely.

You can watch the programme by clicking on this link and selecting 'Hospital Stubs out Bad Example'

Ashton Kutcher talks about Allen Carr's Easyway

Ashton Kutcher stopped smoking using Allen Carr's Easyway and talks about it on GMTV.

Click here to watch the tv clip

He also talked to Jay Leno on the Tonight Show about Allen Carr 28/9/06

LENO: Now, you quit smoking also, right? Was it because of the movie?
Mr. KUTCHER: Yes, it was after the movie, yes.
LENO: All right. Now, how was that? You used to smoke a lot.
Mr. KUTCHER: I was a good smoker. I was so good at it. I was like, man-
LENO: It's a skill.
Mr. KUTCHER: I could have--if there was like professional smoking, I could have won something.
LENO: Really. Wow. Well, I'm glad you quit. Do you feel better?
Mr. KUTCHER: No. I read this book by this guy Allen Carr and it's called "The Easy Way to Stop Smoking," and the great thing is while you're reading the book you get to smoke. Like, he tells you when to light up. He's like, 'All right, light one now,' and you're like, 'Absolutely.' And you get to smoke like all the way through the book.
LENO: What is this? Like Philip Morris put this book out?
Mr. KUTCHER: No. Like, this guy's brilliant. And you get to the last page and he like, 'All right, light your last one,' and you're like, 'I don't know if I want' - like, by the time you get to the end you're like, 'I don't know if I want to light it, but, OK, if you say so, Allen.' And then you're like - savor that last puff, you know. He's like, 'Take the last puff now.' And you're like, 'Take the last puff now.' That was it and you put it out and then you're just done. And I haven't smoked since - like - for like a year and a half.
LENO: That's amazing.
Mr. KUTCHER: Yes.
LENO: I'll have to check this out.