So, you want to help someone quit chewing tobacco, and your trying to figure out what it is about this that makes it so hard for them. Your trying to figure out why they wont quit for you, and why a quit forum full of strangers claims to work. There are a few principles that you have to understand before go out and try to help your loved one quit, and understanding these is paramount.
The first thing that you are going to have to realize is that the person that you are trying to help is an addict. I know we talk about this a lot, but this is always a hard one to get heads wrapped around, especially for the person who you want to help quit. This addiction runs deeper than you may ever realize, and getting through to your loved one is always hard. Nicotine has been compared, in addictive terms, to cocain, heroin and alcohol. A daily user of nicotine is as much an addict as anyone else dependent on a substance.
The second, if the person that you are trying to help quit doesn’t want to quit, they wont. There isn’t enough nagging, complaining, health scares or fighting in the world that can make someone who doesn’t want to, quit. You must realize, the harder you push someone who doesn’t want to quit, the harder they will push back and potentially go into hiding their addiction and chewing tobacco use.
When someone takes their nicotine addiction and chewing tobacco use into hiding, we call it ninja dipping. Many of us were ninja dippers, and we were good at it.
All you can do for them is to steer them in the right direction. Tell them to check out the forum, show them some nasty cancer pictures, and try to educate them on their addiction and why they need to quit. But remember that if they dont want to do it, it wont happen.