About the Blog Author-John R. Hughes, MD

John R. Hughes, MD is Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Family Practice at the University of Vermont. Dr. Hughes is board certified in Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. His major focus has been clinical research on tobacco use. Dr. Hughes received the Ove Ferno Award for research in nicotine dependence and the Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Health. He is a co-founder and past president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, and the Association for the Treatment of Tobacco Use and Dependence. Dr. Hughes has been Chair of the Vermont Tobacco Evaluation and Review Board which oversees VT’s multi-million dollar tobacco control programs. He has over 400 publications on nicotine and other drug dependencies and is one of the world’s most cited tobacco scientist. Dr. Hughes has been a consultant on tobacco policy to the World Health Organization, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the White House. His current research is on how tobacco users and marijuana users stop or reduce use on their own, novel methods to prompt quit attempts by such users, whether smoking cessation reduces reward sensitivity and whether stopping e-cigarettes causes withdrawal. Dr Hughes has received fees from companies who develop smoking cessation devices, medications and services, from governmental and academic institutions, and from public and private organizations that promote tobacco control.

News

  • Partner Support for Smoking Cessation

    A recent Cochrane Review (“Enhancing Partner Support... 2018) concluded that the 11 RCTs indicate providing partner support to smokers trying to quit does not increase quit rates. There are multiple lines of evidence that partner support is associated with greater quitting. For example, living with another smoker decreases quit rates and if a smoker quits, his/her partner is more likely to later quit. Also, having a partner who is an ex-smoker increases quit rates, even more than having a never-smoker partner. Increasing partner support has been found effective for weight loss, diabetes compliance, and alcohol/drug abuse....
  • Recent Data on Quitting Smoking in the US

    A recent CDC report (MMWR 65:1457) reports that the incidence of at least one quit attempt/yr has increased from 50% to 55%. That may sound encouraging but that also means that, despite stigmatization, taxes, smoking restrictions, free treatment in most states, almost half of smokers tried to stop. In addition, the CDC reports that 32% of smokers say they are not at all interested in quitting. Also only 31% used a treatment when they tried to quit and only 5% used....
  • Blog on Hardening

    As many of you know, I have been enamored of the hardening hypothesis (in terms of ability to quit on a given attempt). However, attached is what I think is the best test of that hypothesis from Robert West’s Smoking Tool Kit and clearly it is refuting it. Also, the CA survey has found similar results. So, I am abandoning the hardening hypothesis in terms of the general population. However, I must say the logic around the hardening hypothesis (social pressure...