What Makes It Hard to Kick the Habit You have done smokers a profound disservice by publishing Eyal Ert and Eldad Yechiam's Sunday Review article, "Why Smokers Still Smoke" (July 28). They begin by remarking that smokers are not all "hopeless addicts," and that "many smokers are capable of quitting." Yet the rest of their article ignores those who are "hopeless addicts" and concludes that smokers keep smoking because they cannot "resist the short-term pleasure despite the long-term disaster." This conclusion, if applicable to anyone, is certainly not applicable to the "addicts," who keep smoking because they are addicted to nicotine, now recognized as a powerful drug. I should know; I was one of those addicts. Many years ago, I tried to give up my two-pack-a-day habit, and repeatedly found the withdrawal symptoms so unbearable (after the third week, I cried all the time) that I couldn't work and was forced to resume smoking. I finally went to a hypnotist and gave up the habit. Eventually the crying stopped, but I didn't have a day I enjoyed for more than six months. One of the hardest parts of this ordeal was that no one would believe that my problem was smoking, since the popular belief is that it's easy to quit - it's just a matter of willpower. Mr. Ert and Mr. Yechiam have made addicted smokers" situation worse by reinforcing that belief. Most of them still smoke because they can't afford to take several weeks off work dealing with withdrawal symptoms. Eyal Ert and Eldad Yechiam suggest that smokers continue to smoke because they "exhibit poor self-control in the face of immediate temptation." Notably missing from their discussion is the role of the tobacco industry in exploiting this widely shared character trait. For example, tobacco manufacturers pay retailers to locate large displays of tobacco products immediately behind the cash register. Numerous studies have shown that these displays prompt impulse purchases and make it significantly harder for smokers to quit - which is why several other countries have prohibited these displays. Additionally, tobacco companies devote the majority of their advertising budgets to price discounts that offer short-term reward but long-term costs. The analysis presented by Mr. Ert and Mr. Yechiam provides strong support for two measures pending before the New York City Council - one that restricts the display of tobacco products and one that limits tobacco price discounting. Of course most smokers lack control - as do most addicts. Most smokers are well aware that smoking can lead to serious health problems, but many smokers underestimate the risks. It is certainly not "risk taking" attributes that keep smokers smoking - it is the incredible power of the nicotine addiction! Nicotine is 10 times more addictive than heroin or cocaine and 6 to 8 times more addictive than alcohol. It is a testament to the powerful nicotine addiction that one in five Americans are current smokers. More than 70 percent of smokers want to quit. It is not the thrill of taking risks that keeps them smoking - it is the addiction and the lack of access to credible treatment. The writer is a nurse and tobacco treatment specialist. Smokers smoke because they enjoy smoking and its effect on their brain. Or, at least, a change in the pattern of their neurochemical circuits has their brain executing this self-reinforcing behavior. This is the essence of addiction: people may no longer want to smoke, drink, use drugs and so on, yet they find themselves engaging in the behavior as if their nervous system had been hijacked. An apt analogy is that their mental software has been reprogrammed by a computer virus-like phenomenon. Addicts are hardly aware that their nervous system has been enslaved, as they are otherwise engaged in the vicissitudes of the addictive behavior. Often addicts (including smokers) have tremendous self-control, yet this attribute is exploited by the disease process to perpetuate the illness rather than to promote healthy behavior. For example, they may use their self-control to tolerate withdrawal symptoms long enough to get through a plane flight, work obligations or a family function, so that they can return to smoking or drug use later. The writer is an addiction psychiatrist and chairman of the Houston-Harris County Office of Drug Policy.