Hey everyone! I don`t know how many of you have ever tried Swedish "Snus". I`m a American with Norwegian ancestry, and moved to Norway in 2009 to get my masters. I was a smoker for about 2 1/2 years, then finally quit in early 09.
I thought I was DONE with my nicotine need, then moved to Norway, and was amazed to see how many people "snused"!
EVEN WOMAN and TEENAGE GIRLS USE SNUS! They come in small tea bags, and are much drier (less moist) than regular American snuff, so they are much more discrete and no spitting needed. Swedish Snus comes in different flavors, even bubble-gum. So I bought some, loved it, and became totally hooked.
Problem was, Snus use is much more socially acceptable here than in America. When walking on any side-walk you see used snus pouches all over the pavement, almost as common as gum. Teachers snus while teaching, and even students keep cans of the stuff on their desks during lectures.
I found myself snusing ALL THE TIME: Gave myself GERD, bad heart burn, and strange needle feelings in my arms and legs when sleeping.
On Friday March 2, 2012 at 7am, I spit out my last snus bag, and tossed the rest in the toilet. I got mad that I was soooooo under nicotine`s thumb! I was scared sh.. less of getting cancer. Been 11 days now tobacco-free. Still craving ALL THE TIME, and feel like I am dizzy most of the time. This has sucked. Much tougher for me to quit snus than it was to stop smoking! I can`t believe it, but it`s true.
To get to the main point of my post, there is a debate now underway here in Norway about the health consequences of snus. Norway and Sweden have the highest snus use in the world per capita. Many doctors are here now are recommending their smoking patients to switch to snus! This made my blood boil! Instead of TREATING NICOTINE ADICTION, they recommend people switch to a product that holds MORE nictotine than cigs!.
Not sure if any of you on this site can read Norwegian, but if you can, here is a link to an article that appeared in today`s edition of Aftenposten on SNUS being used as a "Harm Reduction" tactic to get people to stop smoking. People actually believe that smoking is the problem, and not nicotine addiction.
http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/deba ... 82122.html