
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 14, 1993                   TAG: 9311140079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA                                LENGTH: Short

COLD TURKEY NOT BEST, SMOKING STUDY FINDS

Tapering off may top going cold turkey when it comes to quitting cigarettes, addiction researchers reported Saturday.

Those who can delay the day's first cigarette or give up smoking for seven days have a good chance of eventually dropping the habit for good, according to a new study.

"Maybe our goal shouldn't be to get them to quit," said study author John P. Pierce of the University of California, San Diego.

"Maybe our goal should be to get them to quit for at least a week or to get them under 15 cigarettes a day," he said at a meeting of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Pierce found that restriction of smoking at home and in the workplace was a factor contributing to successful quitting.

Ninety percent of smokers who try to go cold turkey fail to quit, most of them relapsing within four days, Pierce said.

by CNB