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How a wonder pill helped break Will Hosie's years-long smoking habit
Evening Standard
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1/16/2025
Will Hosie has been smoking since he was 14. With the new anti-smoking pill, he’s finally kicked the habit.
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Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
Can this miracle drug really help you stop smoking?
00:04
Hi, I'm Will Hosey, and I started smoking when I was 14 years old.
00:08
It was unfortunately a prerequisite for being cool where I went to school in central London.
00:12
I probably hated it at first, but I got used to it and learnt to love it, which I'm sure is most people's experience.
00:17
When I turned 26 in November, I decided I needed to drop the habit.
00:21
You often get told that 30 is the cut-off point, but to alleviate pressure on my future 29-year-old self,
00:26
I decided I would quit now while I was still ahead.
00:29
So the treatment I've gone for is a pill called varinicline.
00:32
The GP can prescribe it for you on the NHS.
00:35
Traditionally, they'd have offered you nicotine patches or vapes, but I find vapes unsightly.
00:40
So for me, that was never going to be an option.
00:43
Varinicline is a bit like ozempic for smokers in that it's designed to make you feel ill when you do smoke,
00:48
and that's what puts you off. It basically ensures that smoking is no longer a pleasurable experience.
00:54
When I had my first cigarette on the pill last week, I felt a bit woozy,
00:58
but I thought that might just be the placebo effect.
01:01
By the end of the second cigarette, however, I was feeling practically high and in a bad way.
01:06
And that feeling ended up lasting for hours, and it put me off there and then.
01:10
It's unclear to me whether the pill reduces cravings.
01:14
I don't think it's meant to work that way, but maybe my brain has convinced itself that it has.
01:19
Either way, I'm not feeling much of a craving for a cigarette.
01:22
It could also be because varinicline has side effects, including nausea and constipation,
01:26
which would put you off smoking anyway.
01:28
It's been five days now, and I've got no desire to smoke.
01:31
Obviously, though, this is a very personal experience, and other people have a different one on the drug.
01:36
So whatever the effect that it has on you, it's sort of up to you to interpret that as part of your quitting journey.
01:43
So say varinicline made me feel great, for example.
01:46
I would tell myself, this is what I feel like when I don't smoke.
01:50
At the end of the day, the most important thing the GP will tell you is willpower.
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