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daily nebraskan
thurcday, may 3, 1070
Program snuffs -smoking habit with volts and bucks
By Kim WUt
If you want to quit smoking, and the possibility of re
ceiving an electrical stimulus doesn't shock you, the
Habit Control Center in Omaha is offering a five-day
stop-smoking program.
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But be forewarned-it's expensive. The full five-day
experience runs $375 if you stretch your payments out
over a year, and $350 if you pay in full. The two-day
program is $120, and the one-day course will cost you
$65. The Habit Control Center guarantees you will be
completely broken of the1 cigarette program, or your
money will be fully refunded.
The staff members like to think of the cost as com
parable with the amount you would spend on cigarettes
ul one year, according to Raymond Lemke, a psycho
terapist at the center. He said the payment indicates sin
cerity on the part of the participant.
"There has to be 100 percent involvement on both
sides," he said, and if a person has invested a great deal
of money, he will be certain to be involved.
Predictions differ
Lemke claims a 92 percent success rate in the full
five-day program. However, Eugene Olivetti, the center's
founder, disagrees with that prediction .
"It's too early to tell how successful the program is,"
he said. "Fifty or sixty percent would be closer."
The Habit Control Center has existed for about three
months, he said. It is based on the premise that smokers
who participate really want to quit.
"They have to be convinced that cigarettes are bad
for them," Olivetti said.
Lemke agreed.
. "If we feel that a person doesn't want to quit, we tell
him. There's no use in wasting our time and effort, or
theirs," he said. "We're pretty blunt about it."
Lemke explained the reasoning behind the center's use
of aversive therapy as pairing an unpleasant stimulus, the
electrical shock, with a pleasant experience, cigarette
smoking. The therapy works to convince participants that
negative consequences exist when they light up a
cigarette. The shock is not painfil, but extremely unplea
sant, Olivetti said.
Shock, rapid-Inhaling
"We use a nine-volt battery, and we tested it on our
selves first," he said, adding that he stopped smoking
through the program.
In addition to the electrical shock, the center also uses
rapid-inhaling techniques, where the subject smokes a
pack of cigarettes in an hour.
"That part of it is probably more eimportant than the
electrical shock," Olivetti said. "It's the most successful
technique."
Susan Willig, from Omaha, who has gone through the
program, said the rapid-inhale part of the program was the
one that made her quit.
"The ugliness of the cigarettes, the full ashtrays and
the smell really got to me," she said. "By the third day I
thought I was going to get sick ."
Willig said she smoked two packs a day for fourteen
years before she quit after beginning the program on April
9. She has not had a cigarette since then.
"I really don't think anything could make me start
again," she said.
Success questioned
One Lincoln psychiatrist said he thought the aversive
therapy idea was I good one, but doubted that it would
be any more successful than any other stop-smoking pro
gram. "Some people would take sharp exception to it," John
D. Baldwin said, adding that aversive therapy should be
considered as punishment.
"I don't know how effective it Is, or how effective any
thing is for quitting smoking. Like anything else, it will
work with some people," he said. "I'm not adverse to any
thing that will stop smoking."
Olivetti stressed that cigarettes are physically ad
dicting. Nicotine is an addictive drug, he said.
"You will smoke more If you switch to lights (low-tar
cigarettes) to get more nicotine."
People who attempt to stop smoking do experience
physical withdrawal symptoms, including nausea, tense
ness, insomnia, headaches, dizzy spells and anxiety, he
said.
Nicotine stimulates the central nervous system, he
said.
"If you gave the nicotine equivalent to a pack of
cigarettes to a child between three and five years of age,
it would probably kill him," Olivetti said.
Oil refiners overcharge officials
Washington-The Energy Department accused seven
major oil refiners Wednesday of overcharging customers
nearly $1.7 billion for crude oil during a 54-year period,
in what could be the biggest such government case ever
against the oil industry.
Paul Bloom, special department counsel for com
pliance, said proposed orders were issued to the com
panies which would require refunds of overcharges upheld
after review.
Bloom said Texaco Inc. was accused of $888.3 million
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in overcharges and Gulf Oil Co. was alleged to have over
charged $578 million.
The other alleged overcharges were $101.6 million by
Standard Oil of California, $42 million by Atlantic Rich
field Co., $29.1 million by Marathon Oil, $24.1 million
by Standard Oil of Indiana and $1.7 million by Standard
Ofl of Ohio.
Sleep danger
Washington-A panel's finding that an ingredient of
tmany nonprescription sleep aids is a "potential human
hazard" "may' lead to i government bah -of the drug.
A committee of the Clearinghouse on Environmental
Carcinogens concluded Tuesday that the antihistamine,
methapyrilene, caused liver cancer in one laboratory study
and is responsible for deaths of nearly a fifth of
the rats in another test still underway. Among the over-the-counter
drugs containing methapyrilene are Compoz,
Cope, Excedrin PM., Nervine,. Nytol, Quiet World and
Sominex.
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